Joint Ventures

Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Geon Co. of Avon Lake, Ohio, have agreed to enter into a joint venture that would create North America's largest maker of polyvinyl chloride, a type of plastic used to make pipes and other products. Occidental's chemical subsidiary, OxyChem, would own 76% of the venture and Geon would own 24%. The combination is expected to reduce operating costs by about $80 million a year, said Ray R. Irani, Occidental's chairman and chief executive.

Los Angeles Zoo elephants Gita and Ruby are among the most generous contributors to the Griffith Park Composting Facility--the first compost plant in the country, according to city officials, to use zoo waste in conjunction with treated human waste and green trimmings.

Western Digital Corp. said Monday that it finalized its deal with IBM Corp. to build new disk drives for personal computers. The deal, which will allow the Irvine-based drive maker to get a jump on emerging technologies and manufacturing lead-in time, was first announced in early May. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal is expected to help bolster Western Digital's position in an unsteady industry beset by falling sales and product surpluses for almost a year.

Tipsters will be rewarded for turning in immigrant smugglers and civilian pilots will hunt for stranded migrants under a border safety program to be announced today by U.S. and Mexican officials in Washington.

Comparator Systems Corp. is trying to make a comeback. The troubled Irvine fingerprint technology firm, whose stock debacle gripped Wall Street, said Monday that it signed a joint venture agreement to build portable security devices with another Orange County company. Tracker Technologies Inc., also based in Irvine, hopes to use Comparator's fingerprint identification technology as a core element of a new line of high-tech identification products, said George W.

The space shuttle Discovery disconnected from Russia's Mir space station Monday to make its way home to Earth, bringing an end to NASA's often turbulent relationship with the aging outpost. Discovery slipped from the metallic grasp of Mir's docking port at 12:01 p.m. EDT after the last visit to the Russian station by a U.S. shuttle. The shuttle left with Andrew Thomas, NASA's last astronaut to serve aboard Mir. In three years, seven U.S.

Often the term "composer-in-residence" means "composer-in-ivory-tower," with the artist safely ensconced in a mainstream cultural palace or academic institution. But composer Michael Abels has taken up working residence in an altogether different sort of tower--the soaring concrete-and-tile whimsies of Simon Rodia in Watts. Abels has been selected to participate in the New Residencies program of Meet the Composer, a national, musical evangelism organization headquartered in New York.

Glendale Federal Bank and the National Black Chamber of Commerce said they formed a partnership to increase available credit, jobs and business development in the state's African American communities. GlenFed said it will participate in local NBCC workshops and seminars and will provide training in preparing loan applications. In return, NBCC will promote GlenFed loan products and other services to its chapters. GlenFed will also utilize NBCC to recruit potential employees.

Theatreplex Entertainment Properties Inc. said it formed a $250-million joint venture with the real estate unit of Japan's Orix Corp. to buy, develop and provide financing for movie theaters in the U.S. The companies plan to invest the money during the next two years, then take the company public as a real estate investment trust, or REIT.

Amid all the uncertainties of a rapidly changing world, a 2-century-old company is striking off in a new direction, demonstrating that renewal and reinvention are the essence of business management in this age. DuPont, the giant chemical company whose formal name is E.I. duPont de Nemours & Co., has invested $3.2 billion in the last year to create a joint venture with Pioneer Hi-Bred, a leading seed company, and to buy the Protein Technologies business of Ralston-Purina.