es. These were grouped by product line and subordi- 

 nated to units of their respective ministries known 

 as chief directorates or main administrations (Glav- 

 ki ) . After many years of experimentation with dif- 

 ferent management forms, the USSR Council of Minis- 

 ters decreed in 1973 that the industrial ministries 

 would switch to a "2-link" or "3-link M management 

 structure in which the production main administra- 

 tions would be abolished and replaced by industrial 

 associations. Under this new format the basic units 

 are to be production and science-production associa- 

 tions which consist of groups of production enter- 

 prises and R&D institutions. Production and science- 

 production associations are to be subordinate either 

 to industrial associations or directly to the cen- 

 tral ministry apparatus. The alternative structures 

 are illustrated in Figure 9-7. At present, most in- 

 dustrial ministries have made or are making the 

 transition to the new system. 



Perhaps the most important structural feature of 

 branch science is that R&D and production activities 

 have for a long time been organizationally separate 

 from each other . Even within the same ministry re- 

 search and development establishments and production 

 units have come under different channels of planning, 

 management, finance, and supply. This pattern of or- 

 ganization has tended to create strong departmental 

 barriers against effective linking of research with 

 production. A major purpose, in fact, of the manage- 

 ment restructuring now underway at the ministries is 

 to break down some of these obstacles that are rooted 

 largely in basic structural design. 



An industrial ministry has broad responsibilities 

 in planning and managing R&D in its special area. The 

 ministry is responsible for evaluating the economic 

 and technological level of production and of product 

 output. It determines the best ways of utilizing R&D 

 results and of raising the level of development of 

 the branch on the basis of S&T achievements both at 

 home and abroad. Ministerial authorities not only 

 plan and oversee the solution of the most important 

 branch S&T problems but they also participate — some- 



59 



