into closer association with, if not formally incor- 

 porated into, establishments for which production is 

 a primary mission. 



In this context, we discuss production associa- 

 tions (POs) and science-production associations 

 (NPOs) . These new complexes represent an attempt to 

 build unified organizational systems rather than un- 

 related or disjointed arrays of tasks, functions, and 

 individual efforts. Such integrated structures are 

 designed to give institutional expression and coher- 

 ence to the innovation process. Some science policy 

 experts in Moscow argue, in fact, that only through 

 research and development complexes can the "research 

 to production" cycle be effectively carried out from 

 beginning to end. 34 The move to create special or- 

 ganizations concerned with applications engineering 

 and diffusion is less well advanced, and only brief 

 attention is given to them. 



As noted previously, the Soviet enterprise typi- 

 cally corresponds to a single-plant Western company 

 with extremely limited design, development, and ex- 

 perimental capabilities. The production association, 

 combining formerly independent R&D and production 

 units, is fast becoming the basic economic organiza- 

 tion of Soviet industry. A major aim of establish- 

 ing POs is to insure that series or mass production 

 of the most advanced items is set up for the internal 

 market and for export. The POs are comprised of tech- 

 nologically integrated production enterprises with re- 

 search institutes and design bureaus attached to them. 

 For example, the Leningrad instrument manufacturing 

 production association Svetlana has experimental re- 

 search and design divisions that work closely with 

 its production facilities in developing new hardware 

 models, a special design bureau for creating technol- 

 ogical equipment for their industrial testing, and 

 shops for manufacturing this equipment. The organi- 

 zational structure of this association is depicted in 

 Figure 11-3. Note the experimental design bureaus 

 (OKBs) which are subordinate to two of the associa- 

 tion's plants. The presence of a comprehensive ex- 

 perimental research facility is characteristic of POs 

 especially in machine building, and the metallurgical, 



204 





