realizatsiya (sales volume indicator)
실현된 제품 판매량
Introduced as a key enterprise performance indicator in the Kosygin reform (1965), it replaced the old gross output (valovaya produktsiya) target. By measuring the total value of products actually sold and paid for, it was designed to shift managerial attention from stockpiled inventory toward goods that reached consumers. Together with profitability (rentabelnost) it formed the twin success indicators of the reform, but as the reform was curtailed the gross-output target crept back.
In depth
Adopted at the September 1965 Central Committee plenum, the Kosygin reform cut the number of mandatory plan targets handed down to enterprises from about thirty to nine and made realizatsiya, the volume of sold output, the primary quantitative indicator. This was meant to correct the perverse incentives of the old gross-output (val) system, under which Soviet managers maximized tonnage and ruble volume regardless of quality or consumer demand. Once sales volume determined success, enterprises had reason to honor contracts and care whether their products were actually used.
But the indicator carried a built-in contradiction. Prices remained state-fixed, inputs were centrally allocated, and no competition existed among firms. Under those conditions 'sales volume' could easily become just another administrative figure rather than a genuine market signal. As the reform retreated, old targets (labor productivity, gross output) returned to the mandatory list one by one, and realizatsiya's standalone significance faded.
Related historical events
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) English Wikipedia: 'Rentabelnost ("profitability") and realizatsiya ("sales") became the twin success indicators for enterprises.' Identifies realizatsiya as a reform innovation replacing gross output.
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian Wikipedia: documents the reduction from 30 to 9 directive indicators and the elevation of sales volume (объём реализованной продукции) as the key quantitative measure.
- encyclopedia.com Encyclopedia.com: 'Other obligatory tasks were to be sales (realizatsiya), assortment, payments to the budget…' Confirms the term's place in the reform's mandatory indicator set.
- istmat.org Исторические Материалы: 'установление объема реализованной продукции в качестве основного показателя объема производства вместо валовой продукции.' Confirms realizatsiya specifically replaced gross output as the main production volume indicator.