The operation of Soviet enterprises has long been characterized by a tendency to lag behind production schedules at the beginning of the month, and then to speed up the rate of production at the end of the month in order to fulfill the monthly quota. This uneconomic practice of storming has often been censured by Soviet leaders, but they have not found a way to eliminate it. On the basis of discussions of management in Soviet newspapers and periodicals, the author ascribes the causes of storming to certain features of enterprise administration, each of which is fairly effective for its particular purpose, but which together generate this tendency to work in spurts. The author speculates about changes which might succeed in eliminating storming.' Dr. Berliner is an economist with the Council for Economic and Industry Research, Inc. His book, The Soviet Business Enterprise, will be published this year.
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Joseph S. Berliner (1956) studied this question.