ABSTRACT
Some in the USSR argue that instead of reducing military production, conversion should be based on the competitive strength of the Soviet arms industry and, they should increase exports. Some suggest that these enterprises should be turned into joint-stock and cooperative businesses with the aim of encouraging initiative and providing better incentives for the workers. If such proposals are backed by the government, those enterprises undergoing conversion could become a real testing ground for economic reform. Under the triple pressure of cuts in defense orders, economic crisis, and the advancement of market reforms, Soviet military manufacturers are increasingly forced to overcome the obstacles to conversion by themselves. Some Soviet economists and managers believe that the solution to conversion dilemmas is to let all civilian facilities of the defense complex branch out into independent corporations. The Soviet military economy of today is a much more complicated and sophisticated organism than it used to be in the days of Second World War.
