Perestroika and Change in Soviet Weapons ... - The Black Vault

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output is around 40-45 percent of total outpuL Therefore, the current
drive begins with a substantial contribution to civilian purposes already
being made by defense industry.
The walls between defense and civilian industry that protected
dfense R&D and production from the deleterious effects of civilian
planning and management are now crumbling, and have been for the
past decade.
REDRAWING ORGANIZATIONAL BOUNDARIES
AND RESPONSIErHTIES
The present plane and policies of using defense industry to bolster
civilian production do not alter the fundamental orientation of the
Soviet economy. Conversion is a form of the classic Soviet approach to
economic growth through *extensive methods. On the fiet blooming
of the policy in 1987, the leadership was also indulging in an approach
that has characterized many past attempts at improvent: redistributing
spoibilit and redrawing boundaries. Rather than allowing
autonomous units to coordinate and motivate economic behavior
through markets, the Soviet philosophy has been to use hierarchical,
administrative structures; if one organizational e nt does not
work, the customary solution has been either to redraw boundaries to
include more operational units within a manager's authority or to
expand the number of functions under the existing organization. This
tendency has a long histor. If a plant cannot count on its suppliers,
then it produces its own inputs internally, if a ministry cannot coordinate
affairs with other ministries, then it creates its own autarchic
capabilities; if production enterprises cannot deal with research intitute
and design bureaus, than the government orgnizes, Science-
Production Associations (NPOs); if Amdemy of Sciences institutes
cannot transfer research results to production ministries, then it
creats Inter-Branch Science and Technoloa Complexes (MNTKs);
and if defense industry managers and methods do not perform wol in
civilian industry, then the government trimsfe civilian production to
the defense sector. The redrawing of boundaries to inchle mor
activities under a unified managerial umbrella has at tiom ameliorsted
some of the systemic deficiencies of the Soviet economy, but it has not
alterd the main characteristics of the system and has created its own
unique set of probUms-orgnixational gigantiam, to name just one.