In fact, the 1974 planning instructions included, 

 for the first time, a list of "basic technical and 

 economic indicators" for industrial production, which 

 are directly related to the broad evaluative consid- 

 erations noted above. Constituting a new subdivision 

 of the plan for the development of science and tech- 

 nology, these technical standards are designed to 

 serve several purposes. First, they provide crite- 

 ria for determining the usefulness and desirability 

 of proposed research, development, and innovation 

 measures, and in particular for calculating the re- 

 turn on investment. Second, they induce enterprises 

 to enhance technological performance, raise economic 

 efficiency, and improve product quality. Third, they 

 aim at enforcing the utilization of R&D results in 

 production. ->0 



In effect, these technical standards are to serve 

 as the basic indicators for evaluating status and for 

 determining technological advance throughout the plan- 

 ing hierarchy. The indicators are couched in general 

 terms for application to the economy as a whole and 

 to the republics, in intermediate terms for the var- 

 ious branches of the economy, and in highly specific 

 terms for separate production units. The general in- 

 dicators include, for example, the following: 



1. The proportion of products matching or exceed- 

 ing the best world standards 



2. The volume of sales of such products 



3. Changes in proportion and volume of substan- 

 dard and obsolete products 



4. The proportion of obsolete products withdrawn 

 from manufacture to total products 



5. The amount of production assimilated for the 

 first time or assimilated in less than 3 years 

 time 



6. The degree of mechanization and automation of 

 labor 



109 



