JPRS ID: 9530 USSR REPORT ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

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• Collection: JPRS
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00850R000300080013-6
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• Document Page Count: 36
• Document Creation Date: November 1, 2016
• Sequence Number: 13
• Content Type: REPORTS

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JPRS L/9530
' 6 February 1981 -
USSR Re ort
p
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
CFOUO 2/81)
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~ JPRS L/9530
6 February 1981
USSR REPORT
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
_ (FOUO 2/si)
CONTENTS
ECONOMIC POLICY, ORGANIZATION, AND MANAGEMENT
~ Kiperman Discusses Industrial Indicatora
- (G. Riperman; VOPROSY ERONOMIKI, Nov 80) 1 =
PLANNING AND PLAN TMPLEMENTATION ~
Plan Indicators, End National Economic Reaults
_ (L. Abalkin; VOPROSY EKONOMIKI, Nov 80) 13
INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE
Improved Efficiency of Experimental Production Advocated
(E. Torf; VOPROSY ERONOMIKI, Nov 80) 17
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Republic Academies, Regional Planners Coordinate Work
(N. N. Nekrasov; VESTNIK AKADEMII NAUR SSSR, Nov 80) 26
- a - (III - USSR - 3 FOUO]
f~AT /YnT~/~t ~ ~ ?/f~n A~~T
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ECONOMIC POLICY, ORGANIZATION, AND MANAGII~NT
KIPERMAN DISCUSSES INDUSTRIAL INDICATORS ,
Moscow VOPROSY EKONOMIKI in Russian No 11, Nov 80 pp 4 9-59
/Article by G. Kiperman: "The I~provement of Physical Indicators in Industry"/
/Text/ In the improvement of the economic mechanism, which is called for by ~he
decree of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers "On Improv-
ing Planning and Strengthening the Influence of the Economic Mechanism on Increas-
ing Production Efficiency and Work Quality," the bring ing of the system of plan and
accountin~ indicators in line with present requiremen t s occupies an important place.
This pertains equally to value and physical indicators, which in dialectic interre-
lationship make it possible to characterize the resul t s of production according to -
the amount of socially necessary labor expenditures which are contained in them
and are expressed in monetary form and as the amount of use values of various pur-
poses. The efficiency of the entire system of indica tors, especially tho se whic.h
characterize the level and dynamics of the production volume and labor productivity,
depends in many ways on the composition of the physical indicators, their functions
in the planning and evaluation of the activity of production units and and measure-
ments used. This is explained by a number of circums t ancas.
First, physical indicators are the base, primary indicators for the formation of
the entire system of indicators. It is possible to de termine the volume of output
in other indices value and labor--only on the basis of physical indicators. The
price, the production cost, the labor-output ratio and other characteristics of
items which are connected with the conditions of the ir production are determined
in terms of one physical unit of output or another.
" Second, the main goal of socialist production is the satisfaction of social needs.
But these are first of all needs for certain types of material wealth, which have
certain properties. All other needs, no matter how important in themselves, are
secondary with respect to the needs for material wealt h. The price, the production
cost and the labor-output ratio of the production of i tems influence the possibility
of ineeting the needs, increasing or limiting them. Bu t the needs for material wealth
are themselves met by consumer properties, which are reflected in physical indica-
tors.
The physical proportions of social production along wi th the labor proportions in
the end determine all the main ratios in the developmen t of the national economy:
the ratio of the two.subdivisions of social production, groups A and B in industry
and so on.
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A number of ineasures on increasing the role of physical indicators in planning as
well as in the evaluation of the activity of production units have been implemented
in recent times. In order to increase the role of physical indicators it is neces-
sary to expand the products list and the list of assignments which are approved in
the national economic plan in physical terms. With reference to machine building
this measure is stipulated by the decree of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR
Council of Ministers on the improvement of the economic mechanism. The increase of
' the numbar of approved items should be accomplished first of all by the subdivision
of the extremely aggregated and therefore compositionally dissimilar groups which
enable suppliers to "manipulate" the composition of the output to the detriment of
_ the consumers. iJith the fulfillment of the plan for the group as a whole the plans
' on items more easy to produce are often exceeded, while the clients need more com-
plicated items which are notable for better consum.er properties. If for the large, _
aggregated groups all the items belonging to them are measured according to the
planned standards of the labor-output ratio, the actual average labor-output ratio
for the group as a whole is considerably less than the planned labor-output ratio.
This is explained not by the decrease of the labor-output ratio of items (with this
method it is not taken into account), but by the increase of the proportion of rela-
tively simple items in the total output. The expansion of the approved products
~ list will make easier for consumers the opportunity to order the items they need,
including more complicated ones.
The expansion of the products list should a1Co proceed in the direction of the in-
clusion in it of items of new equipment, as well as those produced in a~cordar:ce
with licenses purchased abroad. In the annual plans it is also possible to approve
assignments on temporarily critical items. But the opportunities to expand the ap-
proved products list are limited by two circumstances. First, each additional item -
of the products lis~: complicates planning and makes the plan more unwieldy. Of
course, when drafti.ng the plan computers must be used more extensively, but even
here the number of items should be the optimum. The inclusion in the plan of new
items should as far as possible be accompanied by the exclusion of items, for which
the need oE confir.mation has disappeared. Second, the development and strengthening of
the direct ties of producers with clients must not and need not be replaced by the
expansion of the products list, the requirements of democratic centralism in the -
formulation of the plan must not and need not be violated. The assignments approved
in the plan should facilitate for the client ministries the establishment of effi-
cient production ties with the supply ministries. The excessive detailing of the
products list of the national economic plan is just as harmful as its excessive
consolidation.
In conformity with the decree on the improvement of the economic mechanism, as was
already noted, the products list of the plan for machine building is being expanded.
However, in our opinion, it is expedient also to extend this practice to the plan-
ning of the production of some consumer items, especially scarce items and items
produced from inexpensive materials. As is known, in light industry the specific
assortment of the production program of enterprises is formulated in accordance with
the orders of trade organizations. In principle such a procedure is correct, since
precisely the workers of trade organizations, by meeting daily with cons~ers, have
an opportunity to identify in good time changes in demand and to react accordingZy
to them. But the orders of trade fa~ ~rom always become the basis of the formula-
tion of production plans. There are often instances when it is not tiade that dic-
tates to supply enterprises what must be produced, but, on the contrary, the latter
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dictate to trade what must be purchased and ordered. As a result the least expensive
_ or relatively labor-intensive items are "washed away" f~rst of all from the produc-
tion plans to the detriment of the interests of the population. Therefore it would
be advisable, without changing the established system as a whole, to approve cen-
trally and in light industry assignments on the production of individual types of
goods in physical terms, primarily the scarcest items.
Contrary to the widespread opinion of its simplicity, the problem of formulating and
applying physical indicators is among the most complicated in economic practice.
Its complexity is dictated by the objective and therefore unavoidable contradiction
bPtween the features inherent in physical indicators and the nature of the demands
made on them. Let us examine in what this contradiction is manifested concretely.
The planning and accounting of output in physical terms are carried out in units of
measurement which reflect the physical properties and consumer purpose of products.
But any physical unit-meter, unit, ton and so forth--makes it possible to measure
only one of the many consumer pr~perties of a product; here it is necessary to di-
vert attention from the rest. Of course, one must try to reflect the main, key
property of the item, which determines to the greatest extent its conformity to the
_ need for the meeting of which it is intended. For example, the planning and ac-
counting of the production of fabrics in square meters make it possible to reflect
their most important property--the area on which the possibility of producing (sew-
ing) certain items or others depends. But other properties of fabrics: the close
weave, the shrinkage, the color, the wrinkle, the texture and so on are no less im-
portant for the consumer. Each property separately, but not all of them together,
can be reflected by physical measurers.
Unfortunately, the underestimation in the past of the physical indices ti~emselves
and the complexity of their practical application had the result that many of them
do not conform to the task of orienting producers toward the achievement of the end
result--the better satisfaction of a specific social need with the minimum expendi-
tures of living and embodied labor. However, by using this criterion alone, it is
possible to determine objectively the conformity to it of each physical measurer.
If the measurer is intended for reflecting one of the properties of an item, it is
impossible to consider as a shortcoming the fact that it does not reflect other
properties. It is a matter here not of shortcomings of the indices, but of the
nature of the very object of ineasurement-the output, which has complex and diverse
properties. Therefore the task is, having recognized the impossibility of ineasuring
rhP different properties of items by means of the same unit of ineasurement, to seek,
first, the reflection of the main, most important property for the consumer--to use
those units of ineasurement, which charac:terize this property most completely; sec-
ond, where this is expedient (for example, when there are two main properties or
two properties approximately equivalent for the consumer), to use simultaneously
two units of ineasur.ement.
Such an approach has been implemented for a long time in practice. A classical
example is the measurement of the motors of turbines in items and units of power
(kW). Roughly speaking, it is a matter of the use of two measurers according to
the scheme: items/key technical and economic parameter (power, productivity, lift-
ing capacity and others). At present the list of items, which are being planned
and taken into account in two physical units of ineasurement, is being expanded
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considerably. This moderates the contradiction betweer. the quantitative and quali-
tative characteristics of the production of items by means of physical measurers ar.d
the limitation of these measurers themselves, but does not eliminate it; many items
have not two, but more equivalent main properties; some properties for the present
do not yet yield to quantitative measurement or the process of ineasuring them is
extremely complicated and so forth. The planning and accounting of the production -
= of the majority of types of output henceforth will be carried out by means of one
physical measurer. -
By char3cterizing some one property of the output and diverting attention from all
others, the physical indicators accordingly direct the attention of enterprises to
the satisfaction of a specific social need. But it is impossible to divert atten-
tion from other ne~ds. Therefore the problem of the better and comprehensive satis-
faction of social needs can be solved by means of z system of indicators and the .
appropriate measures. Thus, when planning and calculating the production of window
glass a shift was made from tons to square meters. The correctness of this does
not arouse doubts: the consumer needs precisely the area of glass and IlOt its
weight for the end result of the use of the glass is the number of glass-enclosed
window frames, stairways and doorways with allowance made for their area. Planning
and accounting in square meters are conducive to the reduction of ~he thickness of
the glass and to the more efficient use of raw materials. This is good. But con-
sumers also need thick glass. However, many of them are not receiving enough of
this glass, in spite of the availability of capital allocated to them. `1'his is
easily explained: if at the end of the quarter or year the production plan in
square meters is not fulfilled for some reason, the enterprises quickly reduce the
output of thick glass in order to obtain more square meters of thin glass from the
same amount of raw materials. As a result some of the orders for thick glass are
not filled.
One measurer cannot simultaneously stimulate the output of both thick and thin
glass. It was necessary to choose. The choice was correctly made. But so that
the consumers of thick glass would not suffer, the responsibility of enterprises
for the fulfillment of the plan according to the entire products list and the ob-
servance of obligations in accordance with contracts and orders must simultaneously
be increased. Although the accounting of the fulfillment of assignments on deliv-
eries is carried out in value form, with respect to content it is a means of moni-
toring the conformity of the actual composition of the output in physical terms to
the composition stipulated in the plan and in the contracts concluded on its basis.
The physical unit which is used in the planning and evaluation of the activity of
- enterprises substantially influences the structure of production and the products
list. The planning of the production of reinforced concrete pipe, for examnle, is
carried out in cubic meters. Therefore it is unprofitable for plants to produce
small-diameter pipe: the labor expenditures are relatively greater, while few~r -
cubic meters are obtained. According to the estimates of Giprostroymaterialy, if
the need for pipe is taken to be 100 percent, pipe with a diameter of 500 mm ac-
counts for 25 percent of the need, while pipe with a diameter of 1,200 mm accounts
for 12.5 percent of the need. Only 10 percent of the total output is small-diameter
pipe, while 36 percent is large-diameter pipe. The output of pipe with a diameter
of 1,000 mm is 1.5-fold greater than the need, and the output of pipe with a diame-
ter of 1,200 mm is threefold greater, while the output of pipe with a diameter of
500-7u1~ ~n is two-fifths of the need.
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- The output of many products of the chemical industry is planned in tons, although in
a number of instances this does not clirect attention to the better satisfaction of
_ the needs. For example, polyisobutylene sheet, from which liners which are imper-
meable to acid and alkali agents are manufactured, is being produced for builders. -
The USSR Ministry of Installation and Special Construction Work has repeatedly pro-
posed to decr.ease the thickness of tne sheet from 2.5 to 1.5 mm, but its planning
in tons is preventing this.
Frequently the replacement of some physical indicator or other by another, more cor-
rect one is drawn out for a number of years. In part this is explained by the com-
" plexity of replacing one indicator by another. Suffice it to note that in this
_ case it is necessary to make changes in planning, standard, planning and design and
statistical documents. For lf items or square meters are introduced in place of
a ton it is necessary, as a rule, to recalculate the rates of consumption of mate-
rial resources, fuel and power (instead of the rates of consumption per ton it is
= necessary to establish them in terms of an item or square meter). The production
capacities of enterprises should be recalculated, since without this the substantia-
tion of the plan is impossible. The appropriate measurer shou:ld be introduced in
the technical characteristics of items, for example, in the certificates of machines
and equipment. The balances of production capacities should accordingly be recal-
culated. In many instances it will be riecessary to change the cost unit as well
as the unit of pricing. Moreover, changes of the units of ineasurement in the pro-
duction plans, as a rule, give rise to the need for analogous changes in the physi-
cal balances ar.d plans of distribution. Statistical reporting will change, although
twu measurers--the former one and the new one -will have to be used for a minimum of
one year in order to preserve the dynamic series. Several months may be required to
sol�~e these questions. If in practice they have been worked on at times for years,
this can be explained only by the inadequate persistence or lack of interest of in-
dividual ministries.
With a change in the unit of ineasurement the technical problems arising here should
also be solved in good time. If ineasurement in meters is introduced in place of a
unit of weight, along with the weighing service, which remains necessary, new equip-
ment for measuring the length, thickness, area and so on should Ue developed and
introduced, as a rule, on the production line.
Another aspect of this problem is even more complicated. The change af the unit of
measurement is not an end itself, but a means of solving a specific technical and
- economic problem. For the measurers themselves have no influence on the develop-
ment of production. Their role lies in something else: they are called upon to di-
rect the attention of economic managers to the implementation of a system of tech-
nical and technological measures, which will ensure the solution of the posed
problem.
Let us take, for example, newsprint. The weight of 1 m~ of a sheet of newsprint in
_ our country on the average is 51.5 g, its decrease by only 0.1 g would provide such
an additional amount of paper (in area) from the same amount of wood pulp that there
would be enough of it with room to spare for the annual printing of any of our cen-
tral newspapers. But in countries with a high level of development of the pulp and
paper industry the weight of a sheet of newsprint is only 44-46 g(per 1 m2). The
- excessive thickness of the paper produced in our country is explained by a r,umber of -
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causes, one of which is the planning of its production in tons. The changeover to _
planning in square meters w~ould promote the reduction of the thickness and accord-
ingly the weight of paper. Hnwever, this would be the result of changes not in the
physical measurer, but in the equipment and production technology. A change of the
measurer would be only a"catalyst" of the implementation of a n~ber of technical
and technological measures. The main thing is the increase of the strength of the
pulp, since with a decrease of the thickness of the paper the standard of strength
does not change.
The situation with cardboard, the production of which is also planned in tons, is
approximately the same. The Arkhangel'sk Pulp and Paper Combine previously pro- ~
duced packaging cardboard, 1 m2 of which weighed 252 g. Owing to the steps taken _
it was possible to decrease it to 173 g without detriment to the quality. For this
it was necessary to modernize the machinery and improve the processing method. The
national economy obtained an enormous impact: 800,000 tons of pulp, or 3.5 mil- -
lion m3 of wood were saved, but the combine pays fines for the nonfulfillment of the
plan of deliveries in tons. A change in the physical measurer being used would
stimulate the improvement of the equipment and technology, without which the end
result--the output of thinner, but not less strong types of paper and cardboard--
would not be achieved.
_ However, in a number of sectors there are no technical difficulties for the intiro-
duction of new, more correct measurers which better reflect the consumer proper--
ties and technical and economic parameters of items. But even in those instances
when difficulties do exist, they can on no account serve as justification for the
use of indicators which do not meet present requirements.
Many of the physical indicators were introduced in practice during a period when
a subordinate role belonged to the qualitative factor of the development of produc-
tion. Any unit of ineasurement which reflects the amount of produced output regard-
- less of its qualitstive parameters conformed to its own purpose. Now the situation
in the national economy has changed, but many types of products are planned and
taken into account as before in measurers which are at variance with the task of the
better satisfaction of needs and the increase of production efficiency.
It is possible to speak of the shortcomings of ineasurers only conditionally, for it
is a matter of physical units which in themselves do not have shortcomings. The
shortcomir.gs lie not in the measurers themselves, but in the practice of their use.
Thus, for the planning of the purchases of wood the cubic meter is a good measurer,
while for reinforced concrete components it is a bad measurer, for the planning of
the production of sugar the ton is a good measurer, while for machinery and equip-
ment it is a bad one and so forth. The planning of the output of rolled products
in tons is a serious shortcoming. Metallurgical plants are not interested in the
production of light-weight sections, thin sheet and narrow strip, in the manufacture
and deliveries to machine builders of blanks which approximate in form and weight
- the finished items, for the production of which they are intended. The ton, of
course, reflects one of the physical properties of rolled products--the weight, but
does not reflect at all its consumer properties. Practically no consumer of rolled
products neEds their weight as such. Completely different properties--the thick-
ness, width, length, strength, hardness, thermal shock resistance, ductility and so
on--are important for him. Therefore the customary and seemingly obvious
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measurement of the output of rolled products in tons does not conform to the task
of directing attention to the better satisfaction of needs.
_ The total output of rolled products under present conditions can be specified only
in tons. But many types of them can and need to be planned in other units. For
example, it is unquestionably more suitable to plan wire in running meters and not
in tons� Due to the fact that the majority of types of wire are planned in tons
(and only some of them are planned in meters), suppliers try to produce wire of
the greater possible gauge which does not always conform to the interests of cli-
ents and the na tiional economy And much metal is consumed in vain. t~leanwhile, there
are no technical obstacles to changing over to the planning of the production of
all types of wire in meters. At some enterprises this has been done, but still not
- everywhere.
Thus, it is first of all necessary to "clear away" the assortment of rolled pro3-
ucts which is planr.ed in tons, having eliminated from it all the items which it
is feasible to plan and take into account in other units of ineasurement--in running
or squarp meters, in a num~er of instances in items. Unfortunately, the Ministry of
Ferrous Metallurgy is not working on this problem vigorously enough.
Another possible, but still inadequately elaborated means of solving the problem is
the use of conventional physical measurers. They cannot be used everywhere,
but in a number of instances yield favorable results. This is confirmed by many
years of experience in using such measurers as the conventional ton, the conven-
tional (standard) tractor and others.
In the precast reinforced concrete industry the total production volume in physical
~.erms is specif ied in physical cubic meters. Here an item which is complex in
form and labor-consuming in production i~ equated to a simple item, if their vol-
ume is the same. Enterprises are interested in increasing the output of items
which are the simplest to produce, but lar~e in dimensions ("cubical"): foundation
blocks, panels. As a result the physical measurer used~is at variance with the re-
quirement of the fulfillment of the plan according to the entire products list, the
task of the complete supply of construction projects wi.th all the necessary compo-
nents. The production of advanced components, which are capable of performing the
same functions with a smaller volume, is unprofitable, since the labor productivity
(in cubic meters ~;`r w~orker) decreases.
The experience of the Main Administration of the Construction Materials and Struc-
tural Parts Ind ustry attached to the Moscow City Soviet Executive Committee showed
- that these shortcomings can be eliminated when measuring the production of rein-
forced concrete components in conventional cubic meters. A panel of floors, the
standard labor-output ratio of the production of which is 5.5 hours (per cubic
meter), was taken as the conventional unit. Coefficients of conversion into con-
ventional units are being established for all items depending on their standard
labor-output ratio (and not the actual ratio). The more complex an item is, the
_ higher the coeff icient of conversion is. As a result the production of all items
is becoming equally profitable (with respect to its influence on the total volume
of output in conventional units and the indicators derived from it), labor produc-
tivity is being measured more correctly, the activity of enterprises is being char-
acterized more objectively, the fulfillment of the plan according to the entire
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products list is being facilitated, the assimilation of the production of new com-
ponents, which are difficult to produce, but necessary to construction workers, is
being stimulated.
In the planning of the production of rolled groducts the repeated attempts to use
the measurer "conventional ton" did not yield favcrable results. The main reason, .
in our opinion, is that the change of the consumer properties of the items is out _
of proportion with the ~hange of their labor-output ratio. With the increase of
the level of the mechanization and automation of production the labor expenditures -
are becoming a less ar?d less reliable basis for the formation of conventional meas-
urers. Obviously, a search for new approaches to the solution of the problem is
_ necessary.
Every item has a specific functional purpose and meets some zeed. The more precise-- _
ly the physical measurers reflect the consumer properties of the items, the better
they are. This also pertains to conventional physical measurers: they should be
based on the comparison of the cdnsumer properties of items, and not their labor-
output ratio. For example, the production of white pigments is planned and taken
into account in conventional physical units which reflect the content of active
substance--zinc oxide. Its content in many ways determines the main consumer prop-
erty of white pigments. But the content of zinc in white pigraents, of course, is
not proportionate to the labor-output ratio of their production.
Only in t.hose instances when it is impossible to select a measurer which directly _
reflects the c~,nsumer properties of items is it necessary to compare them accord-
ing to labor expenditures. But this is permissible only in those instances when
there are grounds to assert that a more complicated and therefore more labor-
consuming item better meets a specific need. The use of conventional physical meas-
urers which are based on the conszderation of the key technical and economic parame-
ters of items is the most effective. Such parametric measurers are being used more
and more extensively in machine building: the output of machines, technological
sets and lines is planned according to their productivity, that is, the amount of
output which can be produced in conformity with the technical characteristics of
the machinery per unit of time. The extension of the practice of using parametric
measurers conforms to the task of orienting the activity of machine building minis-
~ tries, associations and enterprises toward the achievement of better end results.
But the conventional physical and parametric measurers do not completely replace
the physical measurers but are used along with them, supplementing and enriching
the characteristic of the output being produced. The determination of the total -
productivity of automatic lines according to the plating of sheet steel is their
main characteristic, but it does not rep"lace the data on the number of lines, with-
out which the coordination of production with the needs, the compilation of the
plans of distribution and so forth are impossible.
Exp erience has shown that in a number of instances it is difficult to reject a meas-
urer, the inexpedience of the use of which is obvious (for example, the same tons or
items in individual machine building sectors). For such instances the specialists
of individual ministries suggest, as they say, a no-lose version: to reject entire- .
ly the physical measurer, using instead of it (for the same products list items) the
value measurer. Such a practice exists: for many types of technological equipment
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the value in comparable prices is indicated in the production plan in physical terms -
instead of the number of units. The comparable wholesale price (and in the Ministry -
of Machine Building for Light and Food Industry and Household Appliances, as an ex-
p~riment, the standard of the net production) conditionally performs here the role
of the physical measurer. The extension of this practice suits the producing minis-
tries, but hardly conforms to the interests of the national economy. It is easier -
to fulfill the plan in rubles, since the impression is created of the improvement
of the fulfillment of the plan according to the products list which in reality
might not be the case. With reference to the planning of the production of equip-
ment in the July (1979) decree of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council ~
of Ministers the question of the impermissibility of the establishment of assign-
ments in tons, of the need to change over to the planning of production in units of
measurement which reflect its productivity and other economic properties, was un-
equivocally resolved. Indicators in tons can be used in nec~ssary instances only
as estimate indicators.
Much work on the improvement of the measurers of the output of machine building has _
been done by planning organs and ministries since the promulgation of the indicated
decree. In maay instances the changeover to the planning of production in tw~ units -
of ineasurement according to the principle: an item or unit/key technical and econom-
ic parameter, will be a definite step forward. Where it is difficult to distin-
guish the key parameter (for example, machine tools, wood working and many other
machine tools have several approximately equivalent parameters), the use of two
units of ineasurement according to the principle of an item (unit)/ ruble (here the
aggregate of the consumer properties should be reflected in the monetary valuation)
might be advisable. Whereas until now in the national economic plan the production
of wood working machine tools or casti.ng machines was planned only in items, now it
will be planned in items and by value (.in millions of rubles). The output of spin-
ning machines so far has been planned it? items, wilich do not reflect its mai~i
parameter--the power. It is reflected in the number of spindles (or spinning
places): the more spindles a machine has, the greater its power or productivity is.
Therefore the decision has now been made to change over to the planning of the pro - -
duction of spinning machines not only in items, but also according to the total
number of spindles. The new measurer better reflects the consumer properties of
the machines.
But the number of spindles is still not the end result. The product obtained on the
- spinning machines--thread--is that. Therefore, the Ministry of Machine Building for
Light and Food Industry and Household Appliances correctly considers that the number
of kilograms of thread which should be obtained per hour of operation of the ma-
, chine is a more accurate measurer of the productivity of a spinning machine. But -
it is impossible to introduce now such a unit of ineasurement (items/kg of thread an
hour), since in the technical characteristics of the machines (in the certificates)
the productivity in kilograms is missing. only the number of spindles is entered.
In such instances it would be expedient to set the deadline for the introduction of
the new measurer (for example, 1982 or 1983), which will direct attention toward the
completion by this deadline of the necessary technical preparation. Precisely such
a decision was made in a similar situation with respect to a number of types of
products of the electrical equipment industry, in which much work has been done on
improving the physical indicators. For example, mobile electric power stations,
crane motors, AC generators, the output of which was planned in items (in spite of
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the substantial differences in power), now will be planned in items and thousands of
- kW; insulating materials were planned in running meters, but now will be planned in
square meters; zinc batteries, the output of which until now was planned according
to the weight of the zinc, now will also be planned in millions of ampere-hours.
The new unit of ineasurement reflects the cons~er properties of the batteries.
Work is also being done in this direction in other sectors. In the chemical indus-
try, for example, the p roduction of mineral fertilizers was planned in conventional
units, that is, in terms of the content of nutrients: for nitrogen fertilizers-~
20.5 percent nitrogen, for potassium fertilizers-41.6 percent potassiiam oxide and
so on. Starting in 1981 the assignments will be set in terms of 100 percent content
of nutrients. At the same time the growth rate may be less, but it will reflect the
real situation more accurately. '1'hus, the production of mineral fertilizers in the
USSR in 1977-1978 was characterized by the following data (in millions of tons):
1977 1978 Growth rate
(percent)
In conventional units. . , . . . . . . . . . . 96752 91976 101.2
In terms of 100 percent nutrients. 23493 23653 100.6
The production of chemic al fibers and filaments until recently was planned in tons.
This adversely affected the production of thin fibers and filaments, which are more
complicated and labor-consuming to produce, but meet the requirements of textile
workers. Now the situation has changed: the production of chemical fibers and
filaments will be plann~d in ton-counts (the thinner the filament is, the higher
the count is).
The introduction in the practice of planning of production not of individual ma-
chines, but of sets and systems of them, of complete production lines, installations
- and units, which include equipment and devices which make it possible to obtain the
finaZ product of the given technological processes, is expedient for many sectors of
machine building. This fully accords with the task of orienting the activity of
machine building ministr ies and industrial associations toward the end results,
that is, toward the bett er satisfaction of the needs of clients, who need not incom-
plete machines, but sets of them which ensure the complete mechanization or auto-
mation of the corresponding technologi.cal process. Here the dissemination of the
~ practice of deliveries in complete sets according to the experience of the Ministry
of Chemical and Petroleum Machine Building was supplemented by the organization of
planning, which was appropriate in content. Some experience of planning the produc-
tion of machines and set s of technological equipment has been gained in the Minis-
try of Tractor and Agricultural Machine Building and the Ministry of Machine Build-
' ing for Animal Husbandry and Fodder Production. In the procedural instructions for
the drafting of state pl ans of economic and social development it is established
that the creation of technically improved systems of machines, sets and lines,
which make it possible to mechanize completely a specific technological cycle and
production process, should be stipulated in the plans on the development of the
sectors of machine building.
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However, the planning of systems of machines and sets so far has not become wide-
spread. It is expedient to establish centrally a list of systems of machines and
sets for ~w}iir;i ass i~nmznts on p].annin~ productic~n and customer deliveri.es should
be establisl~ed in the national economic plan. At the same time
it is neces~~ary to determine or reviae the composition of the sets: at present "
means of t?:~ mechanization and automation of the processes of loading the production
lines, of "unloading" and packing the final product, monitoring, measuring and con-
trol instruments and so forth are oEten not included in them. Indeed, ~he composi-
tion of complete production lines as the need arises can be refined upon agreement
between the manufacturers and the customers, but in practice the p roducers deter-
_ mine it. As a result the fulfillment of the plan of deliveries in complete sets is
facilitated, but the operation of the sets becomes complicated for the customers.
Apparently, the composition of each system of machines or set shoul d be determined
by USSR Gosplan or USSR Gossnab on the suggestion of the customer. The price of
the set should not be formed mechanically from the prices of the ma chines and in-
struments belonging to it, but should take into account the parame t ers and efficien-
cy of the set as a whole; as in all similar cases, priority should belong to the
whole, and not to its parts. The price should change with a change in the parame-
ters of the set as a whole and not of its individual components.
The discrepancy between ttie ability of the physical measurer to ref lect only one of
thc properties of an item and the true multiplicity of them is irre solvable. Ap-
parently, in spite of the steps now being taken, it will not be po s s ible t~ rejecC
entirely the use of ineasurexs which are far from the optimum, but it is possible and _
necessary to reduce to a minimum the negative consequences connect ed with this. It
is necessary to establish that when the enterprise fills all the o rders of customers
according to contracts and orders, the plan is considered fulfilled both in physical
and monetary terms, regardless of the actual volume of output in one physical meas-
urement or another.
When increasing the role of physical indicators and expanding the area of their ap-
plication, not only the advantages, but also the shortcomings which are connected
_ with this must be taken into account. Thus, the dynamics of physi cal indicators
do not always correspond to the dynamics of the labor expenditure s, especially in
machine building. A correspondence is observed here only when production coopera-
tion is absent or stable. Only on this condition is it possible on the basis of
the dynamics of the physical indicators to characterize correctly the results of the
activity of enterprises. In other cases which are encountered qui te often in prac-
tice, the physical indicators, contrary ~o the generally accepted opinion of the3r
unconditional "objectivity," are just asunsuitable for the comparis on of the results
of the activity of one enterprise in adjacent periods or of similar enterprises dur-
ing different periods as the gross or co~dity production. If, fo r example, one
plant produces refrigerators which are fitted with compressors of i ts own production,
while another receives them from outside, with the equal output of refrigerators of
the same type the amounts of work performed by the enterprises will be different.
In such cases the contribution of the collective of each plant to the production of
an equal number of refrigerators can be measured by means of a value indicator--the
net production.
It is necessary to emphasize with all certainty that the increase o f the role of
physical indicators on no account should be achieved by the decreas e of the role of
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value indicators. It is impossible to consider Che interrelationship of physical
and value indicators to be like connecting vessels when an increase of the level
in one of them is accompanied by its decrease in the other. It is a matter of a
system of indicators, in which an un~ustified decrease of the role of any indica-
ror adversely affects the effectiveness of the use of the entire system of them.
Tncreasing the role of physical indicators and bringing them into line WiCh
the objective requirements of the development of production and consumption is -
aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the entire system of indicators, including
~ value indicators. Having rid some vaiue indicators, such as the gross, commodity
and sold production, of the "performance" of individual functions not characteris-
tic of them, we thereby eliminate the shortcomings connected with this and increase
the positive influence of the use of the indicated indices on the-development
~ and improvement of production.
Many measures on the improvement of physical indicators are .~imed at the increase of
production efficiency, first of all the reduction of the materials-output ratio.
The effectiveness of these measures would be greater if the influence of wholesale
prices shows up in the same direction. Our plants for example, produce a black
mastic (by adding graphite) wiiich is used in laying parquet. Builders have been -
demanding for many years now the organization of the production of light mastic, but
then in place of graphite it would be necessary to add ground natural quartz, which
is several times less expensive. The manufacturing enterprises are afraid of a de-
crease of the cost of mastic. It is possible to cite many such examples. The de-
cree on the improvement of the economic m~chanism solves this problem--the former
amount of profit will be retained in the new prices, until the end of the five-year
plan the former wholesale prices will be used for determining the production volumes
and labor productivity. It is necessary to utilize more actively and promote more
extensively the opportunities afforded by the decree to stimulate a decrease of the
materials-output ratio.
It is impossible not t~ raise another question relating to the problem being
examined. It is a matter of introducing the international system of SI units in the
practice of using physical. measurers. It was prepared and recommended for use 20 years
ago (in 1961). However, so far such obsolete units of ineasurement as quintals (in-
stead of tons), calories (instead of joules),horsepower (instead of kW) and so forth
are used extensively in economic practice, in economic and even educational litera-
ture. It is necessary to establish that in economic literature, especially refer-
ence publications and textbooks, only those units which are contained in the inter-
national system should be used.
The first, but very important steps have been taken in the matter of improving the
physical indicators. The main thing now is for this work to be performed systemati-
cally. The dynamics of social production, the change in the conditions of its
development and the expansion of the products list and the product assortment require
the constant improvement of the physical indicators and the assurance of their con-
formity to the tasks of increasing production efficiency and work quality.
COPYRIGHT: Izdatel'stvo "Pravda", "Voprosy ekonomiki", 1980
7807
CSO: 1820
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PLANNING AND PLAN IMPLII~NTATION
PLAN INDICATORS, END NATIONAL ECONOMIC RESULTS
Moscow VOPROSY EKONOMIKI in Russian No 11, Nov 8U pp 138-140
/Review by L. Abalkin of the book "Konechnyye narodnokhozyaystvennyye rezul'taty i
planovyye pokazateli proizvodstva" (The End National Economic Results and the Plan
Indicators of Production) by Yu. S. Muntyan and G. Ya. Kiperman, Izdatel'stvo
- "Ekonomika", 1979, 136 pages/
- /Text/ The fuLther intensification of the process of reproduction and the practi-
cal implementation of ineasures which are aimed at the improvement of the economic
mechanism and the strenghtening of its influence on production efficiency natural-
ly increase the interest in the problem of the end national economic results.
'I'he book being reviewed does not aspire to a political economic analysis of the
problem. The authors define their goal more narrowly and specifically--on the
basis of the generalization of the experience of planning work to examine the ways
of improving the system of indicators of planning with allowance made for its ori-
entation toward the end national economy results.
The goals of the development of production and its socio-economic features, it is
stated in the monograph, find expression in the end results. With reference to
. production activity the orientation toward the end results means the best satisfac-
tion of social needs with the minimum expenditures, while with reference to the
nonproductive sphere it means the best satisfaction of the naeds of society for all
types cf services with the most efficient use of resources (p 90).
In light of the decisions of the 25th party congress Yu. Muntyan and G. Kiperman
examine the main directions of the improvement of planning at the present stage
and the means of combining the physical and value indicators of production. Special
attention is devoted to the analysis of the content and composition of the final
national product, as well as the final product of ministries, industrial associa-
tions and enterprises.
When examining the practice of planning the authors identify a number of unsolved
problems and difficulties which check the use of effective tools of the management
- of social production. The great potentials which the drafting of an intersectorial
balance offers are well known. But, as is noted in the book, the ministries in
their practical activity are not guided by the recommendations which ensue from such
elaborations. The intersectorial balance is compiled with a breakdown by so-called
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' pure sectors, whi~h does not correspond to the organizational structure of industry.
Therefore its indicators are unaddressed (p 24).
An unusual, but quite typical situation arises: science developed a very effective
tool of economic analysis and management (in this case the intersectorial balance),
but it is being put to negligible use. The reason consists, apparently, in the fol-
lowing. The path from theory to practice includes a large number of intermediate
links, which correspond to the general movement from the abstract to the specific.
The inattention to these links and the absence of a kind of bridge, which unites
theore~ical assumptions with the practice of planned management, significantly re- "
strain ti~~ process of improving the economic mechanism.
The negative results of the practice, in the case of which the assignments on the
output of products are set by some organs, while the balance and the plan of dis-
tribution are set by others, are shown in the book (p 51). Oth~r factors, which
_ cause disturbances of the balance of the plan and disproportions in the national
economy, are also identified (pp 22-23, 77 and elsewhere).
Among the assumptions stated in the book we would like to direct the attention of
the readers to several fundamentally important assumptions which are aimed at im-
proving the methodology and organization of planning.
The authors consistently show the role and merits of the standard method in plan-
ning. They see its main advantage in the fact that it makes it possible to estab-
lish the dependence between the amount of resources, in the increase of which enter-
prises, associations and ministries are interested, and the indicators which char-
acterize the end results of production, in the improvement of which the national
economy as a whole is interested (p 29). The planning calculations of the quanti-
tative and qualitative indicators of production at all levels when using norms and
standards are significantly simplified and, what is the main thing, here the making -
of technically and economically sound decisions is ensured (p 40). The question of
using the standard method in economic stimulation is examined in detail.
The assurance of the stability of the plans is one of the main directions of the -
further improvement of planning and the increase of it~s mobilizing force. The
negative consequences of its frequent and not always ~~~~ind adjustments are well
known. The solution of this problem requires an entite system of ineasures, among
which the creation of a planned reserve, which is optimal in composition and
amounts, first of all reserves of material resources and production capacities,
plays an important role.
In this connection the need to improve the methods of calculating the material
reserves is substantiated. As to t~'te reserves of production capacities, their
lack complicates the satisfaction of the needs which arise during the planning
period, and to a certain extent hinders the work on the development of new items,
- the introduction of advanced technology and the organization of new works (p 15).
Much space in the book of Yu. Muntyan and G. Kiperman is devoted to the analysis of
the indicators of planning and the means of improving them. The merits of the in-
dicator of the standard net production and the experience of its practical applica-
tion in industry are examined in detail. Hnwever, the authors are not inclined to
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absolutize the importance of this indicator. 'Their fundamental position on this
question is both scientifically and practically sound. The real opportunities of
influence of any indicator on the development of production, it is stated in the
monograph, are limited, since the indicators act not in isolation, but in a system
of approved indicators of the p"lan, in which each of them complements the otlters
and itself experiences their influence. Therefore the effect of any indicator
should be examined in interrelationship with the assignments of ~he state plan
(P ~3) .
We have the right to expect from the authors, who have made it their gc~~al to
analyze the expression of the end national economic results in the plan indicators,
an exhaustive answer to this question. However, unfortunately, this expectation
is not fully justified. The main artention in the work is directed to the measure-
ment and evaluation of the fina.l product of the corresponding links--from the na-
tional economy to the enterprise. This is an important question, but it forms only
one of the aspects of the multilevel problem of end results.
The correct underlying thesis that the end results characterize the degree of satis-
faction of needs with the minimum expenditures, is not developed consistently
enough in the book. This finds expression in the fact that the problem of efficien-
cy was relegated to the background in the book. It is correctly emphasized in it
that the plans of the output of products in physical terms do not lend themselves to
optimization (p 35), that the efficiency of social production can be evaluated only
by means of value indicators (p 37). The maintenance of progressive dynamic propor-
tions and stable high rates, and not the achievement of great efficiency, is de-
clared to be the most impo�rtant task of the plan of the output of products in value
terms (pp 54-55). From the standpoint of the end results high rates in themselves,
especially with respect to the gross volume indicators, still do not attest to an
increase of production efficiency.
In a number of instances the authors approach uncritically the evaluation of the
role of volume indicators. They consider it necessary, for example, to use the in-
dicator of commodity production for characterizing the results of the aggregate
labor in sectors, as well as in the entire sphere of physical production (p 65).
As to enterprises (production associations), the co~nodity and sold production are
ostensibly their final product (p 133). At the same time Yu. Muntyan and G. Kiper-
man write that the evaluation of the work of enterprises according to the sold pro-
duction and of ministries according to the commodity production does not lead to the
violation of the unity of the system of indicators (p 126).
In our opinion, it is impossible to agree with these conclusions. The magnitude of
the value of the consumed means of production which is included in the conmwdity
and sold production can in no way be considered the result, especially the end re-
sult, of the work of enterprises, associations and ministries. This magnitude, like
the volume of the output of comanodity (sold) production as a whole, is directly de-
pendent on the consumed material resources and inversely proportional to the effi-
ciency of their use. If the efficiency is included in the evaluation of the end
results of economic activity, the mentioned indicators are not suitable for this
purpose.
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In the work it is correctly claimed that "frequently the most effactive solution of
production problems can be achieved not only with fewer expenditures, but also with
smaller volumes of co~nodity and sold production" (p 116). It is difficult to
_ argue against this. But if this is so, how is it possible to consider the mentioned
indicetors to be an expression of the end results?
It should be noted that the question of the end results of the activity of the pri-
mary unit of the national economy (enterprises, the pr.oduction association) was the
most poorly elaborated in the book. Only two and a half pages are devoted to this
fundamental questic~n. Here the problems ~f the profit, the means of its "clearing,"
the profi*ability and others are not even mentioned. In many respects this is con-
nected with the fact that the question of the end results was replaced by the ques-
tion of the final product.
At the same time on a number of questions of the final product the authors state
very interesting opinions. It is possible to agree with the main methodological
principle, in conformity with which for each production unit the product intended
for consumption outside the sphere of its production activity is the final product
(p 114). This principle is successfully applied to the choice of indicators for
ministries and industrial associations. The authors proceed on the basis that the
ministry is not a simple sum of the enterprises which are united only by a common
management, but an economic system which gradually develops into a sectorial eco-
nomic production complex (p 116). A similar characterization is given in the work
to industrial associations.
In conformity with this the indicators applied in planning, the use of which is
based on the notion of the ministry and the industrial association as a simple sum
of enterprises, are critically analyzed (pp 123, 128). A number of indicators
which reflect the end results of the activity of large economic production com-
plexes are proposed in the work. Special attention is devoted here to the assign-
ments on deliveries of products to consumers. The interests of consumers, the
authors indicate, in m~ost instances coincide with the interests of the national
economy (p 74) .
The suggestions of the authors on the sharp increase of the role of deliveries and
the tightening up of contractual discipline merit attention. In the work, in par-
ticular, it is proposed to conclude contracts between the consumers and producers
of products on the basis of the draft of the plan prior to its approval (p 86),
which will make it possible to eliminate a number of conflicts which occur at pres-
ent. T'he need to assign to ministries the monitoring of the fulfillment of the
~ plan of deliveries of products according to contracts and orders and to make them
responsible for the fulfillment of obligations by subordinate enterprises is sub-
stantiated (p 21).
In spite of the questionability of a number of assumptions contained in the work,
the book does stimulate a search for more effective planning decisions. This is
especially important in connection with the need to complete in the next few years
the adoption in practice of the measures outlined by the party on the improvement
of the economic mechanism. Acqutaintance with the book will be useful to both
scientists and experienced workers.
COPYRIGHT: Izdatel'stvo "Pravda", "Voprosy ekonomiki", 1980
7807
CSO: 1820
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INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPI~VT AND PERFORMANCE
IMPROVED EFFICIENCY OF EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTION ADVOCATEA
M~oscow VOPROSY EKONOMIKI in Russian No 11, Nov 80 pp 69-75
/Article by E. Torf (Leningrad): "The Increase of the Economic Efficiency of Pilot
Works"/
/Text/ The increase of the need of social production for efficient innovations is
creating the need for the accelerated development of the experimental base of scien-
tific and technical organizations and industrial enterprises for the purpose of ex-
pediting the changeover from the information results of scientific research to their
use in production in the shortest time. Here the role of pilot works both as the
performers of experimental operations, without which the updating of production on
the basis of the achievements of science and technology cannot take place, and as
the producers of small series of products, the experimental check of which has been
completed but the series production of which has not begun, is increasing. Both
functions of pilot production are equally important, therefore, when designing and
planning the latter, it is necessary to substantiate ecanomically the possibility
of their performance with allowance made for the reflection of its specific nature
both in the methods and indicators and in the standard base of planning.
Pilot production is distinguished from series production first of all by the nature
of the output. The output of pilot production is the information on a possible in-
novation in production, which is materialized as test models. In addition to the
technical and economic documents the test model (batch) of output is a development
ready for use, that is, the "output" from the sphere of preproduction and at the
same time the "input" in the production spheYa as such. The specific nature of the
output of pilot production and its dual nature govern a number of features of its
functioning as compared with series-producing enterprises: the considerable degree
of uncertainty of the production process and its result, the accelerated updating
of both the output and the production equipment itself.
The efficiency of any works, including a pilot works, to a considerable extent de-
pends on the extent to which the goals facing the works and effective means of their
quickest possible achievement are reflected in the system of planning and its stand-
ard base.. The analysis of the state and utilization of pilot works for identifying
the reserves for increasing their economic efficiency and creating a standard base
of planning is complicated by the fact that the proper accounting and statistical
reporting are lacking. Moreover, the features of the economics of this type of
production have been inadequately studied.
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In the existing system of planning of pilot works, including those sectors in which
planning according to supply orders is in effect, the goal orientation of the pilot
works toward the preparation of the introduction of innovations in production is in-
adequately taken into account. Moreover, the supply orders do not always contain
precise information on the period and amounts of experimental operations, which com-
plicates the long-range planning of pilat works, while their managers, by not having
a clear idea about the possible change of the products list, are in no hurry to
transfer the output of small series of a new product to industrial enterprises.
The weakness uf the standard base for the determination of rational amounts of ex-
perimental operation s, their correlations with Che amounts of the corresponding re- _
search and development, as we11 as with the volumes of small-series output in es-
sence leads to the d isregard of the specific nature of pilot work~. Standards of
the profit, the prof itability and the expenditures per ruble of comanodity production
- are used for them.l The system of the evaluation and stimulation of pilot enter-
prises, which is bas ed on these standards, interests them in series production, but
not the output of experimental modpls with the corresponding tests. -
The tendency for th e proportion of the output of small series of new products to in-
crease has emerged at pilot works as a whole. Thus, the load ratio of ths pilot
enterprises of the sectorial scientific research institute;s and design bureaus of
machine building and instrument making with operations not related to the nature
of their activity is 30-40 percent, the series output is 14-17 percent.2 Accordi.ng
to our calculations, the proportion of small series in the total amount of opera- _
" tions of pilot ente rprises in the chemical industry increases on the average by
7 percent a year, wh ile the proportion of experimental operations according to the
themes of scientif ic institutions decreases on the average by 4 percent a year.
The expenditures on experimental operations are planned at the levels of the indi-
vidual development, the scientific and technical orgauization with an experimental
base and the sector (subsector). The tasks facing the pilot works at these levels
are different. At the level of the development the pilot works provides the innova-
tion being assimilated in industrial production with the necessary and adequate in-
formation, which is obtained during the experimental operations. At the level of
the organization the task is to make an experimental check of all the scientific
research or design themes as the need arises with allowance made for the demands
made on the experimental check of the individual development. At the level of the
sector the pilot wo rks should ensure the process of the effecti~ve updating of pro-
duction, having perf ormed the required amount of experimental operations with al-
lowance made for the time lag between the latter and the stage of the assimilation
of innovations.
The difference in the tasks facing pilot works at the different levels of manage-
- ment should be reflected in the system of their planning, particularly the system
of planning standards, the use of which will make it possible to increase the eco-
nomic effectiveness of the expenditures on pilot works. At the level of the sector
we made an attempt to deterunine the standard of the planning of such expenditures.
The coefficients of correlation between the expenditures on pilot wo?ks and the
volume of new output, which was assimilated in the sector, were calctlated for two
data arrays: for 9 machine building ministries of the USSR and for 16 enterprises
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of [he Estonian SSR Ministry of Light Industry, in order to establish the relation-
~ ship between the expenditures on pilot works and the volume of the new output being
assimilated in the sector. The choice of the research ob~ects was dictated by the
availability of statistical reporting on the volume of outputof new products. Due
to the lack of the corresponding cumul~tive statistical information the expenditures
on pilot w~orks were determined by estimate. The coefficients of correlation in both
instances were greater than 0.6, which attests to the existence of a relation be-
tween the expenditures on pilot works and the updating of the output. The highest
coefficients of correlation in machine building were noted during the second and
third year after the investments in pilot works, in light industry they were noted
during the first year. The assumption that there is a lag between the expenditures
on pilot works and the updating of the output, which is equal to two to three years
for machine building and one to two years for light industry, was drawn on this
basis. This is also confirmed by the data available in the literature.3
- The adequately high coefficients of correlation and the existence of a steady lag
made it possible to use a regression equation for calculating the expenditures on
pilot works (y) with a given volume of updated output (x). The following equation
with a lag of three years, which provides an accuracy equal to 30 percent, was ob-
tained for mach:~ne building: y= 0.03x + 14.6. The use of such an equation would en-
able sectorial ministries and all-union industrial associations to plan the expendi-
tures on pilot w~orks subject to the need of the sector for innovations, which will
be the most important prerequisite of the increase of the effectiveness of these ex-
~ penditures. Unfortunately, the performance of a similar study for other sectors of
industry, in which updating mainly concerns the processing method, at present is
impossible, since the appropriate statistical information is lacking.
In the future, in our opinion, it is advisable to analyze the relation between the
expenditures on pilot works and the level of the updating of the output in two di-
rections. First, it is necessary to continue the study of the dependence of the ex-
penditures on pilot works both on the volume of new output and on the indicators
which characterize the updating of the processing method and the equipment. The im-
provement of accounting and statistical reporting is important here. Second, the
criteria of rationality of the found equation should be determined, which is a
necessary condition of its use as a standard equation. When performing the first
- stage of the study it was presumed that the actual updating of the output is effi-
cient. However, this does not always correspond to reality. Therefore, at the sub-
sequent stages of the study it is necessary to establish the dependence of the ex-
penditures on pilot works not simply on the updating of production, but also on its
economically feasible volume, which provides an increase of the efficiency of so-
- cial production. This can serve as the standard base for the planning of pilot
works at the level of the sector.
The standard base for the planning of pilot works at lower levels requires greater -
elaboration and accordingly more complicated calculations. The proposals on this
question which exist in the literature pertain primarily to the elaboration of
empirical-statistical weighted average standards of the labor-output ratio and the
monetary expenditures on experimental operations in individual sectors of industry.4
However, the weighted average standards are based on past experience and do not
- stimulate the development of a new, improved product~~on process, that is, they
cannot in principle reflect the specific nature of pilot production. This
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shortcoming of weighted average standards can be eliminated by means of limit stand-
ards, that is, those values of standardized indicators, above or below which the
performance of a specific operation becomes economically inadvisable. Therefore,
the limit standard of the expenditures on experimental operattons can be estab-
lished, having set the impact from the use of their results in production equal to
zero.
The expenditures on experimental operations are economically effective until they
are repaid by means of the acceleration and the reduction of the cost of the process
of assimilating scientific and technical achi~vements in production. Here research
or development cannot replace experimental work, which is aimed at giving scientif-
ic results the form of physical components of production. The impact of the ac-
celeration of the assimilati.on of innovations to a considerable extent depends on
the thorough experimental check of the results of research and development. The
acceleration of the assimilation of innovations makes it possible to obtain the eco-
nomic impact by reducing its losses with the "freezing" of capital investments dur-
ing the period of assimilation. The amount of this impact can be calculated by the
method previously proposed by us.5
The economic effectiveness of experimental aperations largely depends on the tech-
nical level of the equipment for the produci:ion, testing and adjustment of the ex-
perimental models (batches) of products, for the recording of the parameters of the
experimental equipment and the technological processes. This is conducive to the
receipt of more complete and reliable information on an innovation and, consequent-
ly, the increase of its quality and the acceleration of its assimilation in produc-
tion.
The great effectiveness of experimental operations is also governed by a number of _
economic and organizational factors. The changeover from research and development
to experimental operations, and then to the assimilation of the innovation in s~ries
production should be uninterrupted. Here at each stage a sufficient amount of work
should be done to obtain reliable information on the product ar processing method
being developed.
The necessary amount of experimental operations makes it possible to obtain the
minimum information which ensures the assimilation of an innovation in production.
That amount of experimental operations, the increase of which does not make it pos-
sible to improve significantly the technical and economic indicators of an innova-
tion, is the adequate amount. Thus, the necessary amount of experimental operations
is determined by the technical and technological demands on an innovation, while the
adequate amount is determined by the economic limitations. The output of small
series of products at pilot works can be efficient only on the condition of the
provision of the necessary and adequate amount and the reliability of the results of
~ experimental operations.
In connection with the fact that pilot production performs two functions which dif-
fer in economic natu.re, planning should be carried out in both directions separate-
ly. One should begin with the planning of the experimental operations, then the
plan of the output of small series of products is compiled. Such a procedure of
planning conforms to the specific nature of pilot works, which are intended first
of all for the performance of experimental operations, the planning of which begins
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with the determination of their theme. The assignment of the scientific and techni-
cal organization serving the pilot works is the basis of this part of the plan.
Further the equipment workload with respect to time, the labor�-output ratio, the
material and monetary expenditures on the assigned themes are calculated. The ob- -
tained amount of expenditures should not be more than the maximum amount, which de-
pends on the economic effectiveness of the operations. For the pilot works as a
whole it is necessary to ensure the continuity of the changeover f rom research and
development to experimental operations, so that a"line" of themes, which were com-
_ pleted at the preceding staoe, but have not been accepted for experimental checking,
would not form.
The planning of the output of small series of products begins with the determina-
tion of the capacities of the pilot works which are free from the performance of
e~erimental operations. In practice this comes down to the establishment of
a fund of operating time of the equipment, which without detriment to the experi-
mental operations can be used for the output of small series of products. With the
observance of the indicated conditions the output of small series of new products at
pilot works makes it possible to assimilate new productiun more successfully, to
study better the "behavior" of a new product at the user's, to attract new users,
to work out the production technology and to expedite the satisfacticn, if only in
part, of a new social need.
The pilot works is kept busy with the output of small series of previously assimi~
lated products in connection with the fact that industry is not always ready to ac-
cept a completed development for i~?ediate assimilation (the appropriate production
capacities are lacking, the designing, construction and assimilation of new works
are being delayed and so on). At times the need for a new product is limited, which
makes it possible to satisfy it completely by means of the production capacities of '
_ ~he experimental base and makes series production inadvisable. The equalization of
the workload of the equipment and personnel of pilot works in time as a result of
the irregular.ity of the arrival at the pilot works of completed rzsearch or develop-
ment is often required. All these factors should be taken into account when plan-
ning the output of small series of products at pilot caorks.
The choice of an economically effective assortment of small series of products
which are produced at pilot works, like the determination of the limit of the ex-
penditures on experimental operations, is made at tiie level of the planning of in-
dividual types of products. In those instances when the assimilation of an innova-
tion involves the construction of a new works, the date of the start of the output
of the new product is postponed at least by the standard duration of the designing,
construction and assi.milation of this works. Therefore, the output of small series
of new products at a pilot works makes it possible to obtain at the user's a
lump-sum economic impact.
The output of small series of products in pilot production requires greater ex-
penditures than in series production in connection with its small capacity and the
imperfection of the processing method. If the increase of the cost of the products
in the case of production at a pilot works is greater than the lump-sum economic -
' impact for r_he user, for the national economy this product is economically ineffi-
cient. The limit of the increase of the cost of the output of small series of
products in pilot production as compared with series production is the equality
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of this increase of cost to the lump-sum economic impact from the use of this prod~
uct in the national economy, wnich was obtained during the period from the comnle-
tion of the experimental operations to the assimilation of its series output.
The output of a product with a narrow purpose, the need for which can be met com- -
pletely by means of the idle capacity of the pilot works without detriment to the
quality of the experimental operations, is a special case of the production of small
series of products at a pilot works. Here the production capacity of the pilot
' works should be equal to the capacity of the industrial works which it would be
necessary to build in the absence of the pilot works. The greater efficiency of
series production as compared with pilot production, as a rule, is connected with
the increase of the production capacity and the stability of the production process.
However, in the special case in question the capacity does not increase, the produc-
tion process has already been worked out and stabilized. Consequently, there are
no grounds to assume that the cost of producing the new product at a newly built
small-series works Gri.ll be less than at a pilot works. Moreover, the building of a
new industrial works requires additional capital investment~, but the pilot works
was built previously and a portion of the capital investments in it have already
been amortized during the experimental operations. These arguments lead to the con-
clusion that in the special case of the equality ~f the capacities series and pilot
production in the output of small series of products can be equally efficient.
Works of precisely this type form the production portion of scientific production
associations.
The analysis of the effectiveness of the output of small series of products at one
of the pilot plants showed that a narrowly specialized product, the need for which
is completely met, is basically effective, while the partial meeting of the need
up to the assimilation of series production in most instances is economically in- -
advisable. Consequently, the main condition of the effectiveness of the output of
small series of products at a pilot works is the timely transfer of ready develop-
ments to series production, as well as the maintenance of a rational ratio of the
amounts of experimental operations and the output of small series of products, in
case of which a reserve of time is retained for tre performance of rush and unfore-
seen experimental operations.
A method of determining the value of this ratio is suggested in economic literature.
According to the calculations of some authors,6 the indicators of a pilot works
differ substantially from the indicators of a similar series-producing enterprise
when the proportion of experimental operations is at the level of 45-50 percent of
the total production volume. On this basis it is possible to recommend the value
1: 1 as the lower limit of the ratio of the amounts of experimental operations and
the output of small series of products. This means that if the amount of experi-
mental operations is less than SO percent of the production volume, this enterprise
cannot be called a pilot enterprise. Of course, depending on the specific nature
of the sectors of industry this value can vary quite significantly. However, this
approach to its determination, in our opinion, reflects the specific nature of the
pilot works and can be used for practical purposes.
When determining the expenditures on experimental operations at the level of the
scientific and technical organization on the whole it is necessary to take into ac-
count that the stages of the "research--production" cycle are irreplaceable. The
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irreplaceability of the stages is responsible for the f.ixed amount of operations on
each of them, the performance of which is a condition of the further continuation of
the process. The premature transfer of a development to series production means
only that the experimental operations will be perfo rnned during the industrial as- .
aimilation of the innovation.
The expenditures on experimental operations at the level of the scientific and tech-
nical organization to a considerable extent depend on the amount, complexity and
novelty of the research and development which are being performed by this organiza-
tion and require experimental checking. Therefore the standard of the expenditures
on experimental operations at the level of the organization can be specified as the
ratio of the amounts of research or development, which require experimental check-
ing, and the amounts of experimental operations. The criterion oi the rationality
of this ratio is the minimization of the interval between the completion of the re-
search or development and the beginning of the experimental operations, which will
make it possible to minimize the "line" of completed themes awaiting experimental
checking. The ratio of the expenditures on research or development and experimental
operations, in case of which the interval has been completely eliminated, is the
upper limit of the expenditures on experimental operations at the level of the sci-
entific and technical organization.
Thus, the system of planning of pilot works, which is aimed at increasing their eco-
nomic efficiency, should first of all be based on the use of specif ic standards.
The elaboration of such standards should be carried out with allowance made for the
tasks facing the corresponding organs of management. A possible classification of
the standards is cited in the following table /see the following page/.
The acceleration of scientific and technicaY progress is the most important condi-
tion of the increase of the efficiency of social production. The need when drafting
the plans of USSR economic and social development to ensure the acceleration of the
implementation of scientific and technical discoveries and developments, which are
aimed at increasing the growth rate of the productivity of national labor and prod-
uct quality, is indicated in the decree of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR
Council of Ministers "On Improving Planning and Strengthening the Influence of the
Economic Mechanism on Increasing Production Efficiency and Work Quality." For this
the ultimate goals, the technical and economic results, the periods and stages of
the performance of operations---from scientific research to practical implementation,
including the organization of the series production of new products and the intro-
duction of advanced technology-will be stipulated in the programs on solving the
most important scientific and technical problems. ,
The proposed procedure of planning of pilot works is aimed at the shortening of the
- intervals in the process of the scientific and technical preparation of the assimi-
lation of innovations in production, the acceleration of the performance of experi-
mental operations, the increase of the level of economic analysis at pilot works
and the elaboration of the appropriate standard base. In our opinion, this will
promote an increase of the efficiency of pilot works.
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Management organ Level of Indicator being Standard base for planning
management planned
Sectorial ministry Sector (sub- Expenditures on Standard equation, which links
sector) pilot works the economically efficient
amount of the updating of pro-
duction with the expenditures
on experimental operations
Scientific and Scientific Expenditures on Limit amount of expenditures -
technical organ- and techni- exper~mental on experimental operations
i~ation cal organ�- operations with the continuous changeover
ization with from research or development
experimental to experimental operations `
bas e
Expenditures on Limit ratio of the amount of
output of small experimental operations and
series of prod- the output of small series of
ucts proc~ucts, which equals 1: 1
Scientific and Individual Expenditures on Limit of expenditures on ex-
technical organ- developments experi.mental perimental operations depend-
ization or types of operations ing on the economic effective-
products ness
- Expenditures on Limit of the increase of the
output of small cost ~f small series of prod-
series of prod- ucts depending on the lump-sum
ucts impact obtained at a works
FOOTNOTES
1. See "Sovershenstvovaniye planirovan~a i ekonomicheskogo stimulirovaniya
nauchno-tekhnicheskogo progressa" /Improvement of the Planning and Economic
Stimulation of Scientific and Technical Progress/, Izdatel'stvo Moskovskogo
universiteta, 1977, p 66.
2. See M. L. Bashin,_"Novaya tekhnika i opytnyye predpriyat~ya" /New Equipment and
Pilot Enterprises/, Izdatel'stvo "Mashinostroyeniye", 1979, p 34.
3. See L. Rozhneva, "Pricing for the Products of Applied Res~arch and Development"
(VOPROSY EKONOMIKI, No 3, 1977, p 120).
4. See, for example, V. K. Bekleshov, P. N. Za~lin, "Normirovaniye truda v NII i
KB" /'I'he Norm Setting of Labor at Scientific Research Institutes and Design
Bureaus/, Izdatel'stvo "Ekonomika", 1973; A. A. Zvyagin, "Normirovaniye inzhe-
- nernykh rabot" /The Norm Setting of Engineering Operations/, Izdatel'stvo
"Ekonomika", 1975.
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5. See E. M. Torf, "Ekonomika i organizatsiya opytn~k!~, proizvodstv" /The Economics
and Organization of Pilot Works/, Izdatel'stvo notni'~~ 1975, pp 72-76. ~
6. See V. A. Shakin, G. P. Grishina, "Features of the Economics of Pilot Plants"
("Upravleniye, ekonomika i organizatsiya opYtnogo proizvodstva" /The Management,
Economics and Organization of a Pilot Workr;/, seminar materials, M~oscow, 1977,
pp 108-114). -
COPYRIGHT: Izdatel'stvo "Pravda", "Voprosy ekonomiki", 1980
7807
CSO: 1820
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REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
UDC 338.984
REPUBLIC ACADEMIES, REGIONAL PI.ANNERS COORDINATE WORK
Moscow VESTNIK AKADEMII NAUK SSSR in Russian No 11, Nov 80 pp 47-53
/Report by Academician N. N. Nekrasov at the 37th Session of the Coordinating
Council of the USSR Academy of Sciences: "The Elaboration of the Scientific Prob-
lems of Combining the Sectorial and Territorial Pl.anning of the National Economy and
the Tasks of the Academies of Sciences of the Union Republics"/
/Text/ The great efficiency of the economy of the country depends not only on the
increase and improvement of production, but also on its efficient territorial organ-
ization. Enormous reserves for the further economic development of the Soviet
Union and each union republic individually are incorporated in the correct, scien-
tifically sound combination of the sectorial and territorial approaches to the solu-
tion of major national economic problems. In the decree of the CPSU Central Commit-
tee and the USSR Council of Ministers "On Improving Planning and Strengthening the
- Influence of the Economic Mechanism on Increasing Production Efficiency and Work
Quality" much attention is devoted to the improvement of sector~al and territorial
planning and to their fundamental unity.
The scientific problems which are directly connected with the solution of practical
tasks in this area are very diverse and embrace many sections of science. At pres-
ent it is possible to distinguish here the five most important problems, the elabor-
ation of which is of fundamental importance for the further development of the sec-
tors of physical production, and especially regional economic complexes. We have in
mind the regional problems of scientific and technical progress, the problems of the
comprehensive use of natural resources for the country as a whole and by individual
, regions, the problems of the efficient distribution of productive forces in the
union republics and economic regions, the creation of a scientifically sound system
of territorial production complexes and regional problems of nature conservation.
The elaboration of these problems also determines the urgent tasks of the republic
academies of sciences for the immediate and distant future. It should be stressed
that it is a matter, in particular, of the further intensive transformation of the
productive forces of the entire territory of our country, in each union republic.
And the pioneering role of the Academy of Sciences in the solution of new problems
of the development of the productive forces and scientific preparation for the eco-
nomic development of new regions is well known.
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/Regional Problems of Scientific and Technical Progress/ /in italics/. Their elab-
oration is a component of the development of the Comprehensive Program of scientific
and tzchnical progress for the ~i.stant future, which determines the main directions
of the future ~ievelopment of the productive forces of the country and its individual
regions. This program i.s now becoming the scientific basis in the drafting of state
long-range plans of the economic and social development of the country. It is the
first stage of sorts of the long-range scientific planning of the national economy
with specific assignments for each five-year period.
As is known, the General Meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences charged the acad-
emies of sciences of the union republics to take a direct part in the elaboration
of the comprehensive program and especially its regional aspects. Favorable experi-
ence in developing programs of scientific and technical progress up to the year 2000 has been
gained at the republic academies of sciences. However, these programs have not been
properly coordinated with the general concept of scientific and technical progress
in the country and among the republics. NoG~ the demands on the comprehensive pro-
gram are increasing and a large regional section is being specially singled out
in it. The Commission for the Study of Productive Forces and Natural Resources at-
tached to the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences will be the chief scientific
organization on regional problems of scientific and technical progress, ad hoc com-
missions as well as a consolidated commission are also being organized at the acad-
emies of sciences of the union republics. A uniform work plan and uniform procedur-
al approaches to the indicated problems have to be drawn up in the immediate future.
These problems are integrally connected with the factors of the economic develop-
ment of the microzones and are inseparable from the scientific and technical policy
of the country for the future. The regional programs of scientific and technical
progress should be aimed at the fundamental coordination of sectorial programs with-
in one region or another with allowance made for its natural and resource features
and potentials. The planning tasks of the optimum combination of sectorial and ter-
ritorial economic development will also be solved on this basis.
New types of raw materials and energy and new technological processes as applied to
the conditions of the comprehensive development of the productive forces of one re-
gion or another are being studied at the academies of sciences of the union repub-
lics, the scientific centers and branches of the Academy of Sciences. The results
obtained during this basic and applied research should be the basis for the elabora-
tion of the set of regional problems of scientific and technical progress. The
ramified network of sectorial scientific research institutes and planning and de-
sign organizations, which are located on the territory of each republic, have great
potentials for the performance of the appropriate work; the exchange of scientific
and technical ideas among the academies of sciences of the union republics, espe-
cially those located in the same economic macrozone (the republics of Central Asia
and Kazakhstan, the Baltic republics and Transcaucasia), should also play a useful
role here.
There are also some regional scientific and technical problems which are common to
the country. For example, the development of a system of machines, equipment, mate-
rials and technological processes in the so-called northern and tropical design.
These problems are becoming more and more urgent in light of the general strategy
of the economic development of our territories with extreme natural conditions and -
rich natural resources.
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/The Comprehensive Use of. Natural Resources for the Country as a Whole and by In-
dividual Regions/ /in italics/. This group of problems is also included in the com-
prehensive program as a special ser..tion. The structure of natural resources, their
quantity, quality and degree of study and the directions of their economic develop-
ment have a direct influence on the economic potential of the country and especially
on the territorial organization of the economy.
The availability of abundant and efficient natural resources affords wide scope for
economic development and in many ways determines the scientific soundness of na-
tional economic forecasts and long-range plans. The study of natural resources and
the ascertainment of the economic efficiency of their territorial combination and
comprehensive use are one of the main prablems of regional economics. The work here
- is proceeding in two main directions: the study of individual types (elements) of
natural resources (minerals, land, forests, water) and the investigation of the en-
tire natural complex of natural resources within a certain region.
The individual types of natural resources for the entire territory of the country
and by individua~ regions are usually studied in our practice. The natural sciences
reveal the regularity of the formation of inetallogenetic series and provinces, de-
tect the zones of occurrence of various types of minerals, determine the conditions
of the formation of the soil and plant cover, the river discharge, ground waters and
so on. The thorough and concrete study of each element of the natural complex is
necessary for the development of the extractive sectors, agriculture and forestry
and for the forecasting evaluation of the economic prospects as a whole. However,
under present conditions, when the search for the most efficient versions of the de-
velopment of the national economy is under way, such an element-by-element, to a
certain extent sectorial study of the natural complex of one territory or another
is clearly inadequate. The new scale of the development of the productive forces of
the USS R, the rapidly increasing need for all the main types of natural resources,
the increase of the efficiency of the economy of each region--all this requires the -
considerable broadening and new statement of the problem. Along with the intensi-
fication and extension of the presenti methods of studying each type of natural re-
sources, the complicated and broad task of studying the territorial combinations of
all typ es of natural resources and the prospects of their comprehensive development,
as well as of identifying the most efficient technological processes of their use
is being advanced.
The Academy of Sciences has always devoted special attention to the study of natural
resources: many industrial regions of the country were formed as a result of imple-
menting the proposals of scientists of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the acade-
mies of sciences of the union republics, who discovered new natural resources and
developed effective means of their extensive use. The comprehensive approach to
the study of the interrelated natural resources of a specific region is not new.
A classical example of this approach is the organization of the study of Khibiny,
which was conducted in the 1930's under the direction of Academician A. Ye. Fersman.
_ At that time the bi,ological and water resources, the climate, the soils and their
interrelationship were studied at the same time as the mineral resources. Since
the apatite-nepheline ores were a new type of raw material, which was unknown in
Soviet and world practice, particular attention was devoted to the technological
processes of converting apatites into superphosphate and to the extraction of
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nepheline as a source of alumina, as well as rare metals and minerals. The earnest
scientific preparation carried out at Khibiny by the Kola Branch of the Academy of
Sciences made it possible in a short time under the difficult natural conditions of
the North to create a mighty mining center with a developed production and '
social infrastructure, which is of the greatest importance in Che economy of the
country. IC should be noted, however, that national economic practice has utilized
only a small portion of the suggestions of scientists. Value components of the
Kola ores to this day go to the dumps and are polluting, in particular, such a rare
body of water as Lake Imandra.
- Unfortuntely, in our country there are still very f ew examples of an integral ap-
- proach to the study of the natural resources on individual territories. Meanwhile
the study and use of all the elements of the natural complex afford great oppor-
tunities for the increase of production efficiency, for the scientifically sound
building of the economy in each economic region and union republic, each territorial
production complex. (The solution of the scientific and technical problems of the
protection of natural resources and natural conditions is also directly connected
with this.)
The problem of the comprehensive use of mineral raw material resources has now be-
come a majar problem in its scale and importance for the further economic develop-
ment of the country. In our country up to 6-7 billion tons of minerals are mined
annually (according to expert estimates, the annual extraction of minerals by the
end of the century will increase significantly), and at the same time many valuable
- components so far are not being extracted during the processing of mineral raw mate-
rials and are being irrevocably lost. There are concrete scientific and technical
recommendations on solving this problem, but they are not always implemented. For
the extraction of the most extensive group of useful components as possible, for the
maximum decrease of losses when processing mined mineral raw materials and the re-
duction of production wastes it is abaolutely necessary to continue the improvement
of the existing flow charts and methods of extracting, concentrating and processing
mineral raw materials and the development and introduction of new ones.
/The efficient distribution of productive forces and the development of the regional
economy/ /in italics/ are extremely important for bo th the present and the
future structure of the economy of each union republic and economic region. The
present period in the development of the productive forces of the country is char-
acterized by profound changes in the territorial distribution of production: by
fundamental shif_ts in the location of the fuel and power and the mineral raw mate-
rial bases to the eastern and northern parts of the Soviet Union; by the sharp ex-
pansion of the economic development of new regions with a high concentration of
valuable natural resources; by the development of new regions with a high concen-
tration of valuable natural resources, the extensive renovarion and retooling of
production at established industrial centers. Large -scale programs of the develop-
ment of the productive forces of the country have a direct influence on the entire
economic system of the economic regions and actively influence the structure of the
_ economy and interregional production ties.
A decisive shift of industry to the east is characteristic of the present and espe-
cially the future period. Whereas in 1940 more than 90 percent of the industrial
output was produced in the European regions of the USSR and less than 10 percent
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was produced in the eastern regions, by 1975 the proportion of the eastern regions
had already increased twofold and was 19 percent. In 1980 the eastern regions will
produce 25 percent of the total industrial output of the country. As a result
interregional relations will change radically, which will also directly affect our
entire transportation system.
Each five-year plan of USSR economic development paves new ways to the involvement _
of different regions of the country in the economic turnover. The scale and period
of such a comprehensive economic use of new territories have no analogs in the world
history of economic development. Suffice it to recall the development of the virgin
and fallow lands in Kazakhstan, the creation of the mighty petroleum and gas complex
on the Western Siberian plain, which in area surpasses by fivefold the territory of
France, or the solution of the task on the radical transformation of the agriculture
of the Nonchernozem Zone of the RSFSR, as well as the development of the deserts and
semideserts in Central Asia. Now a territory of 1 million lun2, stretching
toward the Baykal-Amur Main Rail Line, has to be developed. Important scientific,
technical and economic tasks have been posed by ?.he elaboration of the strategy of
the economic development of the zone of the North with its unique natural resources.
1'he scientific, technical and design preparation of the territorial redistribution
of water resources is being carried out--the transfer of some of the discharge of
. Siberian rivers to Kazakhstan and Central Asia and of the rivers of the European
North to the Volga basin.
The scientific elaboration of the most important regional problems is embodied in
the General Plan of the Distribution of the Productive Forces of the Soviet Union.
Scientific research on the efficient distribution of productive forces is being
conducted at almost all the academies of sciences of the union republics, and plans
of the distribution of production and the comprehensive development of the economy
of the union republics are being drawn up on this basis. The General Plan of the
~is~ribution of the Productive Forces of the U'oSR up to 1990 was drafted with the
active participation of the institutes of the academies of sciences of the union
republics.
An important duty of the republic academies of sciences in the coming period is to
' elaborate the scientific concept of the development and distribution of the produc-
tive forces of each union republic for the distant future up to 2000-2005, to pose
the fundamental socio-economic tasks of�further regional development and to out- -
line ways to solve them. This is necessary for the comprehensive program of scien-
tific and technical progress of the country and for the better combination of the
sectorial and the territorial plans.
/The creation of a scientifically sound integral system of territorial production
complexes/ /in italics/ is in essence a new scientific, planning and economic prob-
- lem. The elaboration on the basis of the generalization of gained experience and
the achievements of science and technology of a general scientific theory of the
creation and development of territorial production complexes as the main form of
the territorial organization of the economy and the efficient distribution of the
productive forces of the country is necessary. In this connection theoretical and
practical questions are arising which concern the efficient territorial scale of
such complexes, their types and structure, the effective relationship between the
scale and structure of specialized works and the corresponding infrastructure
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(production and social), the scientific soundness of the systems of the complexes,
the interaction of these systems and their individual components on the basis of
economic -mathematical models. The scientific soundness of the forms of the organ-
ization and management of the complexes is of fundamental importance. So far not
one operating complex, and especially not one complex being formed has a clearly
established system of management, and their organization in practice is determined
by the sectorial affiliation. In this case the national economy is losing much in
production efficiency.
Large-scale territorial production complexes are typical of the vast regions of new
economic development. The Western Siberian Petroleum and Gas Complex and the
Angara-Yenisey Complex are being formed intensively. The organization of complexes
in the zone of influence of the Baykal-Amur Main Rail Line: the Southern Yakutsk,
- the Lena and others, has begun. The Timano-Pechora Complex is being created in the
northern section of the European part of the USSR; the possibility of forming the
Kola Complex is being studied. In the central regions the Complex of the Kursk
Magnetic Anomaly and the Orenburg Complex are being successfully developed. In
Kazakhstan the development of the Pavlodar-Ekibastuz, Karatau-Dzhambul and Mangy-
shlak territorial production complexes is continuing; the institutes of the repub-
lic are studying the possibility of organizing another six complexes: the Rudno-
Altaysk, Aktyubinsk and other~, The Almalyk-Angren, Navoi and other complexes have
been created in Uzbekistan. In Kirghizia they have begun the study of the Issyk-
Kul'sko-Chu Territorial Production Complex. The formation of the Southern Tajik
Complex is being completed. The need is arising for comprehensive research for the
formation of a number of interrepublic territorial production complexes: the
Eastern Caspian, the Poles'ye and so on.
Recently USSR Gosplan approved procedural instructions on the drafting of compre-
hensive goal programs for the solution of regional problems of the formation and
development of territorial production complexes. It was established that the pre-
program materials--the plans of the formation of the complexes--are drawn up by
scientific research and design organizations. In this respect at some academies of
sciences of the union republics something has already been done (in the Ukraine,
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan), but in others it has not yet begun. Apparent-
ly, at the republic academies of sciences along with the g~neral formulation of
questions of the general theory of the creation and development of territorial pro-
duction complexes it is expedient to conduct work on the practical scientific sub-
stantiation of the formation of the latter. The results of this research should
be reflected in the general scientific concept of the development of the productive
forces of the republic.
At all the republic academies of sciences the study of /ecological problems/ /in
italics/ is being carried out to one extent or another, but it is necessary to give
this research an even greater practical orientation. Scientifically sound proposals
of an ecological nature should be the basis for territorial comprehensive plans of
nature conservation in each union republic and its individual regions.
The territorial comprehensive plans of nature conservation will be drafted in con-
formity with the decree of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Min-
isters "On Additional Measures to Step Up Nature Conservation and Improve the Use
of Natural Resources." These plans are necessary for determining the measures on
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nature conservation and preventing the pollution and breakdown of the natural en-
vironment, as well as for ensuring the most effective use of natural resources in
the na tional economy. The drafting of such plans is ctlled for with reference to
large industrial centers and cities, territorial production complexea, the terri- =
tories of the union and autonomous republics, krays and oblasts.
Thus, the proposals on nature conservation, which were elaborated by the academies
_ of sciences, receive a practical solution in state plans.
We see that an extensive group of scientific problems and directions of their solu-
tion which govern the further improvetnent of the system of the organization of the
territorial development of the economy on the basis of the combination of the sec-
torial and territorial principles of the management of the economy is forming~
These scientific problems can be solved only by the close cooperation of the natural,
technical and socio-economic fields of knowledge. The launching of the appropriate
comprehensive scientific research at the academies of sciences of the union repub-
lics i s therefore of the greatest importance for the further improvement of the eco-
nomic mechanism of the country.
- The sc ientific research and scientific coordinating activity of the councils for
the st udy of productive fo rces (SOPS's) and the com~?issions for the study of produc-
tive forces and natural resources (KEPS's) attached to the presidiums of the acade-
mies of sciences of the union republics should play an important role in elaborat-
ing the enumerated regional scientific problems. These scientific organizations
are focusing their attention on major regional problems of the development and dis-
tribution of productive fo rces, the comprehensive evaluation of the natural re-
sources and their use, for this forecasts for the distant future are being made in
the SOPS's and KEPS's of a n~ber of republics, the status of the work on the prob-
lems being studied is being evaluated, the scientific and technical feasibility of
the proprosals being elabo rated and the means of implementing them are being ascer-
tained. ThF_ research is being performed, as a rule, in cooperation not only with -
academic institutes, but also with the design organizations of ministries and de-
partments.
The Co uncil for the Study of Productive F'orces, which is conducting important
comprehensive scientific research and is coordinating the elaboration of the prob -
lems of the distribution of the productive forces of the Ukraine and scientific and
technical problems of the efficient use of natural resources, is operating success-
fully at the Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine. This council has been entrusted
with the functions of the chief organization for the comprehensive study of the dis-
tribution of productive forces in the basins of the Dnepr, Dnestr, Northern Donets
and Southern Bug rivers.
The SOPS of the Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan is the chief scientific organiza-
tion for the comprehensive use of natural resources and the development of produc-
tive forces in the basin of Lake Balkhash. Along with other institutes of the re-
public academy of sciences the council is elaborating questions of the comprehen-
sive use of the mineral raw material resources of Kazakhstan, the protection of
the natural environment, as well as the formation and development of the Karatau-
Dzhambul Territorial Production Complex.
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The SOPS of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan has prepared a plan of the dis-
tribution of production over the territory of the republic. Research is being con-
ducted on the formation of a number of territorial production complexes--~n the
Fergana vailey$ the Angren mining and Bukhara-Navoi complexes, on the compreheneive
development of the Karshinskiy, Golodnyy and Dzizhakskiy steppes and the lower
couxses of the Amudar'ya.
Much scientific and coordinating work has been done in the Tajik SOPS for the pur-
pose of forming and developing the Southern Tajik Power Industry Complex.
The KEPS of the Georgian SSR Academy of Sciences is carrying out the coordination
of research on the scientific principles of the comprehensive use of the natural
resources of Georgia with the forecast up to 2000. The KEPS of the Kirgliiz Academy
of Sciences is coordinating the scientific research connected with the new Issyk- '
Kul'sko-Chu Territorial Production Complex.
The tasks which face the academies of sciences of the union republics in the area -
of the formulation and solution of major comprehensive regional problems of the fur-
ther development of the productive forces are very diverse and extensive. Precise
organization of the scientific research in this very important direction for the
national economy of the country is necessary. _
In our opinion, the creation of a system of such scientific organizations as the
commissions for the study of productive forces and natural resources attached to
the presidiums of the academies of sciencies of all the union republics, as well as
attention to the scientific and scientific coordinating activity of each such repub-
lic organization will have a serious influence on the elaboration of regional prob-
lems of the union republics and on the solution of the tasks of the efficient and _
effective combination of the sectorial and territorial planning of the national
economy in each union republic and for the country as a whole.
COPYRIGHT: Iadatel'stvo "Nauka", "Vestnik Adademii nauk SSSR", 1980
7807
CSO: 1820 F~
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