Dr. Bugos is examining the theory that joint ventures were an important form of organizing technology in the post war period. In contrast with the corporate form of organization, which is dedicated to the general increase of capital, the joint venture form of organization is dedicated to the efficient design, construction and management of a specific technological system. The laws pertaining to joint ventures allow them to be organized in whatever way allows the most efficient flow of engineering information pertaining to a project. Important adjuncts to joint ventures in the post-war period are program management and systems engineering, two new approaches to engineering management also focused on large, complex technological systems. Several impacts can result from a fuller understanding of joint venture theory and practice. On a policy level, we can analyze whether public needs have been served by allowing engineering labor to be controlled by increasing numbers of joint ventures: as limited alliances of corporations, as partnerships allowing American firms to set up operations abroad, and as consortia of public and private bodies developing new technologies. Engineering education will feel an impact, since courses in engineering management increasingly emphasize the need for students to understand nuance in joint venture strategy and structure, a topic underserved by the historical literature. Studies of science, technology and society will be impacted, in that an investigation of joint ventures opens a bridge between the dominant paradigm in business history, which focuses on the integration of technology under the capital umbrella of the corporation and in the history of technology, which focuses on the corporation as only one form of organization contributing to the growth of large technological systems. Dr. Bugos is examining this theory on the importance of joint ventures through a case study of engineering management in design and construction of the Bay Area Rapid Transit Distr ict (BARTD). BARTD was formed in 1958 as a special district dedicated to constructing a rapid rail transit system throughout the San Francisco Bay, which it completed in 1975. Five facets of BARTD especially illuminate the variation and importance of joint ventures: the BARTD special district as a fixed-purpose government; the joint venture of the consulting engineers Parsons, Blinkerhoff, Tudor and Bechtel and program management tools invoked by their Joint Venture Control Office; the debate over designating a systems engineer for the automatic train control system; the association of insurers; and the role of professional architects as advocates for public amenities. Research methods include intensive research in archives collected by BARTD in Oakland, California; research in archives of Bay Area universities and public agencies; extensive interviews with members of the involved corporations; and reading in the press reports on BARTD and in the literature of joint venture law and policy.
