and value indicators, there is no entirely satisfac- 

 tory measure of research or innovative output. This 

 is particularly true at the stages of fundamental 

 and applied research. For many years the measure 

 of inputs has been by default simultaneously the 

 measure of output. ■*■' In other words, if budgeted 

 expenditures in fact were spent, then the plan was 

 considered fulfilled. The number of projects has 

 also been used as a criterion, but this raises prob- 

 lems of project definition, determination of comple- 

 tion, and noncomparability between projects. With 

 narrowly applied research, design, and development 

 efforts have been made to measure success in terms 

 of technical coefficients or the ultimate economic 

 benefit of R&D results. These efforts are hampered 

 by imprecise statistics and conceptual measurement 

 problems. 



Like their American colleagues, Soviet authorities 

 have yet to resolve this problem if, indeed, resolu- 

 tion is possible. The criterion of project comple- 

 tion seems generally to predominate, although not 

 much reliance is placed on it, especially in the pro- 

 duction establishment, where fulfillment of technical 

 plans generally is not a primary establishment suc- 

 cess indicator, although informal evaluation of tech- 

 nical performance is an important determinant of man- 

 agerial career paths. By whatever criterion employed, 

 plans relating to science and technology more often 

 than not have not been entirely fulfilled, with per- 

 centage completion figures often ranging from 50 to 

 90 percent. 



Direct Control Mechanisms 



Plan fulfillment is controlled in general in the 

 same way as plan formulation. Specifically, organs 

 responsible for administrative supervision of estab- 

 lishments monitor fulfillment of the entire estab- 

 lishment plan, while other management bodies monitor 

 fulfillment of important aspects or specific func- 

 tional areas of plans. For example, in line rela- 

 tionships the enterprise plan is monitored by the 

 ministry, and the ministry plan by Gosplan on behalf 



185 



