plains, "In fact, planning done by higher and lower 

 organs is generally simultaneous, and the directives 

 and approvals are often replaced by bargaining and 

 mutual agreement."" 



Chronologically, for the annual plan, general di- 

 rectives for the plan year should be formulated early 

 in the preceding year by the Politburo and Council of 

 Ministers. The Academy of Sciences, Gosplan, and the 

 GKNT, representing their respective areas of R&D, co- 

 ordinate and establish the basic objectives, render- 

 ing them more detailed and comprehensive. The GKNT, 

 in particular, has overall responsibility for plan 

 formulation on the functionally oriented program 

 plans. "Control figures," or preliminary plan as- 

 signments, are transmitted down the respective hier- 

 archies — Academy, ministry, republic — to the perform- 

 ing organizations. This stage should be completed by 

 the middle of the year. 



Establishments prepare draft plans which are rout- 

 ed up through the hierarchy, aggregated at each stage. 

 They are considered and reconciled (with bargaining) 

 by the triad of central management organs noted above. 

 This stage should be completed by the end of Septem- 

 ber. Plans are then approved by the Council of Min- 

 isters and the Politburo, approved by the Supreme So- 

 viet, and transmitted down the administrative ladder 

 with formal and official plan assignments specified 

 at each level. Preparation of five-year plans pro- 

 ceeds in a similar fashion with, of course, a differ- 

 ent time frame. 



Integration of the various sets of plan targets 

 contained in the separate plan chapters is highly im- 

 portant and sometimes essential. At the least, for 

 example, supply and production targets must be large- 

 ly consistent, but the same is true for R&D and es- 

 pecially innovation targets. The latter assignments 

 generally disrupt normal establishment operations and, 

 if not accounted for in the plan, may thereafter 

 threaten fulfillment of primary production tasks. On 

 the positive side, primary production assignments can 

 function as a strong stimulus to innovation if they 



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