DIFFUSION OF R&D RESULTS 



In the Soviet economy, under traditional organiza- 

 tional and operating principles, diffusion of new 

 technology should not differ markedly from innovation. 

 That is, the first introduction and subsequent intro- 

 duction are not so sharply distinguished in the USSR 

 as in the West. Part of the reason for this is organ- 

 izational. When branch institutes or design bureaus 

 are independent, they are meant to serve impartially 

 all production facilities in the branch, and proprie- 

 tary rights over innovations are not associated with 

 the first introduction or use. Innovation may be in- 

 troduced simultaneously or sequentially in facilities, 

 with little advantage accruing to the first user. 



The absence of competitive pressures in the Soviet 

 economy also means that the economic viability of the 

 noninnovator is not automatically threatened by its 

 failure to act. The production facility in the USSR 

 is responsible to its administrative superiors. For 

 the most part the facility is competing not against 

 other facilities but instead against its own perfor- 

 mance in previous periods. Because targets tend to 

 be set in relation to earlier own-facility results, 

 and because of conditions of general excess demand, 

 facilities of widely differing productivity levels 

 and innovative postures can coexist in the Soviet eco- 

 nomy for indefinite periods. 



Today these situations are changing somewhat, in 

 part because of a conscious desire of the Soviet lead- 

 ship to encourage more rapid technology diffusion. Or- 

 ganizationally, the affiliation of R&D and production 

 establishments, as in the science-production associa- 

 tion, tends to distinguish an innovation from a dif- 

 fusion process. Innovation may be thought of as oc- 

 curring when the NPO plant successfully introduces 

 the technology, while the NPO leaves the problem of 

 diffusion to other branch plants. Similarly, to gen- 

 erate pressure for more rapid process innovation, So- 

 viet authorities are attempting to rely as much as 

 possible on branch-wide performance criteria for tar- 

 get formulation. Of course, branch standards have al- 



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