Civil Engineering Joint Ventures: The British and French Models of Organisation in Confrontation

Abstract

The internationalisation of the procurement of major European infrastructure projects, organised on a joint venture basis, is increasingly bringing into confrontation different national models of project management. This chapter explores the confrontation between two of these models — the French and the British — which we have designated the industrial and professional models, respectively. It does this through the presentation of two case studies of international major projects — the Severn Bridge and the Channel Tunnel — selected from the broader programme of research being conducted by Le Groupe Bagnolet. The results show how both models are internally coherent, but represent two very different ways of managing projects leading to path dependencies in renewal and learning.