A director receives a yearly program for his factory which tells him how much he is to produce, what his product mix is to be, how many workers he can hire and how much he should pay them. He receives allocation orders for the materials and fuels he needs, and there is little he can buy without these orders. Management's job is to produce the planned output--and more if possible--with the inputs given to it. David Granick, "The Red Executive" (1961), p. 20

Each year the factory director received a program which indicated how much he was to produce, what his product mix was to be, how many workers he could hire, and how much would be available to pay them. In addition, he was assigned allocation orders which, in theory at least, entitled him to buy such scarce materials and goods as he needed . . . His job was to produce the planned output, and as much more as possible, with the resources that were made available to him.   Merie Fainsod, "How Russia is Ruled" (1963 edition only), p. 507