THE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF R&D PLANS 



The previous discussion has described steps and 

 stages in the Soviet planning process at all levels 

 in the hierarchy. The culmination of the process is 

 of course the operational plan which, as noted, is 

 the fundamental mechanism for managing and coordina- 

 ting the activities of economic units. Indeed, the 

 deterministic and official character of such plans 

 needs to be emphasized. Their approval is not purely 

 symbolic; they are formally passed into law. While 

 today sanctions imposed when plans are not fulfilled 

 are rarely more severe than monetary penalties, the 

 penalties in foregone bonuses are large, and mana- 

 gerial careers are jeopardized. 



Virtually all establishments and management organs 

 in the Soviet Union draft annual and five-year plans, 

 and most significant entities develop long-range 

 plans of varying durations, generally corresponding 

 to the nature of the subject matter and the forecast- 

 ing methods employed. For example, in the engineer- 

 ing industries in which tasks are fairly "concrete" 

 and technology may change rapidly, long-range plans 

 may be restricted to two years; for Academy and Min- 

 VUZ facilities long-range research plans may be de- 

 vised for 15 year periods. While the subject matter 

 in the plans of the respective hierarchies differs, 

 all sets of plans generally exhibit increasing detail 

 or "concreteness" and a growing orientation to eco- 

 nomic application with the shortening of the time ho- 

 rizon. 



In the hierarchy of plans the state plan for de- 

 velopment of science and technology is of course su- 

 preme. The operational versions of this plan, the 

 five-year and annual plan, contain the following 

 chapters: 



1. Assignments for solving the basic S&T problems 



2. Work programs for introducing new types of 

 products and technological processes into 

 production 



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