Managerial Opposition to Product-Innovation in Soviet Union Industry

As cited by Lovestone Jay in his article, “Basic Distinctions Between the Soviet Economy and American Economy,” in Joint Economic Committee Congress of the United States, Comparisons of the United States and Soviet Economies, Part III (Government Printing Office Washington, 1960).

See, for example, the article entitled “Rubbish” in Izvestia, October 24, 1962. Also translated in Current Digest of the Soviet Press (CDSP), XIV:43 (1962), 26–27.

One recent Soviet source states, “Every factory should have a hard and fast yearly plan for the production of new models.” Izvestia, February 21, 1960, p. 2.

In addition to written sources and interviews with enterprise officials, the Moscow Institute of Economics provided much information on the organization of product-innovation in Soviet industry.

Khrushchev discusses these problems and presents actual examples of coordination problems in Pravda, November 20, 1962. See, also, Kurakov I. , “Organization of Socialist Production” in Problems of Economics, III:2 (1960).

Volkhov O. , in Pravda, October 3, 1962.

See for example, Pravda, January 25 and July 2, 1960 and September 9, 1962; Izvestia, October 27, 1962.

Fofanov I. , “Some Problems of Stimulating Production and Introducing New Techniques,” Problems of Economics, II:6 (1959).

Pravda, July 2, 1959.

Editorial, Pravda, August 15, 1959.

See for example, Pravda, January 23, 1962; Editorial, Ekonomicheskaya Gazeta, December 25, 1961; Izvestia, October 24, 1962.

See for example, Pravda, June 30, 1959; July 2, 1960; July 21, 1961; January 23, 1962; Khtiar G. D. , “Soviet Trade in the Period of Full Scale Building of Communism,” Problems of Economics, August, 1962.

Pravda, July 2, 1959. Also translated in CDSP, XI:28, 1959.

See Factory and Manager in the U.S.S.R. (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1957).

This reform is described in CDSP, XI:50 (1960), 19; Pravda, October 28, 1959. It is significant to note that as part of the 1959 reform, major product and technological innovation assignments are also supposed to be fulfilled at some types of enterprises for premiums to be awarded. There is no evidence that this is the case in the branches of industry under study. It was not the case at those enterprises visited.

Granick D. , “Soviet American Management Comparisons,” Comparisons of the U.S. and Soviet Economies, Part I, Joint Economic Committee (Washington, 1960), p. 145.

Izvestia, May 29, 1962, p. 3.

Pravda, October 3, 1962, p. 3.

Izvestia, May 25, 1962, p. 3. Also translated in CDSP, XIV:21 (1962), 14–15.

Izvestia, November 22, 1961, p. 1.

Izvestia, July 2, 1959.

Cited in Gatovskii L. , “Problems of Economic Stimulation in Technical Progress,” Problems of Economics, III:5 (1960).

See for example, Pravda, February 20, 1962, p. 2, and October 24, 1962; Lokhin E. , “Improving Material and Technical Supply in the U.S.S.R.,” translated in CDSP, XIII:11 (1961).

Ekonomicheskaya Gazeta, November 10, 1962, pp. 10–11.

Although profit is not a success-indicator, the enterprise has some interest in making profits as will be seen in a later discussion on the Enterprise Fund. The profit margins on new products are usually around 5 per cent, whereas profit margins on old products are often 15 per cent or more. See for example, Pravda, October 3, 1962, p. 3.

Izvestia, May 25, 1962, p. 3. Criticisms of the price system as an obstacle to product innovation can also be found in an article by Liberman E. , in Ekonomicheskaya Gazeta, November 10, 1962.

Izvestia, May 15, 1960, p. 3.

As cited by Nove A. in The Soviet Economy (Praeger, N.Y., 1961), p. 169.

Gatovskii L. , op. cit., p. 10 ff.

The above problems are discussed thoroughly in Anisimov G. , “The Motive Forces of Technological Forces in the U.S.S.R.,” Problems of Economics, III:1 (1960).

See for example, Pravda, July 14 and 17, 1960; Izvestia, December 4 and 24, 1961, May 25, 1962.

Many Soviet sources present examples of enterprise product-innovation as the result of firm higher orders and pressure, particularly pressure through party channels. See for example, Pravda, July 2, 1962, p. 2, Malishev A. , Partyny Kontrol Deyatelnosti Administratsii Predpriaity, Moskovsky Rabochy, Moscow, 1959. However, complaints of ineffective pressure and control seem to more than outweigh plaudits.

See for example, Pravda, July 14, and August 14, 1962; Izvestia, November 22, 1961.

A description of the decree and related reforms are found in Pravda and Izvestia, July 3, 1960.

This scale can be found in Dmitrieva R. , Rentabelnost Promyshlennovo Predpriaitia i Putl eyo Povyshenia (Gosplanizdat, Moscow, 1960), p. 200.

See for example, Pravda, July 23, 1962, p. 2.

See for example, CDSP, XIV:29 (1962), 27ff.

These problems are discussed in Pravda, July 23 and October 3, 1962; Izvestia, May 25 and 29, 1962; Ekonomicheskaya Gazeta, October 16, 1961, and November 10, 1962. Manevich Ye. , Voprosy Ekonomiki, 1961, p. 5.

See for example, Pravda, January 23, July 21, August 14, and November 20, 1962.

Izvestia, May 29, 1962, p. 3.

A discussion of these reforms can be found in CDSP, XIV:46, 47, and 48; and Pravda, November 20, 21, 24, and December 1, 1962.

See especially a recent doctoral dissertation by Warren E. K. , Long Range Planning in Decentralized Corporations (Columbia University, 1961). See also, Newman W. Logan J. , Management of Expanding Enterprises (Columbia University Press, 1955), p. 60ff.

Warren E. K. , op. cit., pp. 103–104.