Organizational Innovation: Hidden Reserve in the Soviet Economy

Abstract

This paper explores those characteristics of the Soviet economy which help it survive and grow despite its well-known structural deficiencies: its ability to change itself, to adapt to new conditions, and to improve. This is accomplished through the introduction and diffusion of organizational innovations. Organizational innovations are changes in the ways individual efforts are coordinated and stimulated. Their introduction may serve the goals of improving economic efficiency, increasing political power, or promoting ideology.