Lots of people here confuses planning done in large corporations with central planning.
Even if corporations plans their entire operation it is not the same as central planning, because even if a corporation plans its production it cannot plan it sales. It can only estimate because it operates on a common market.
Estimation of sales plans hiring, production etc, however the actual real sales is a feedback loop into that process, where in a central planned system that feedback loop does not exist. Central planned system will just go on whatever the "sales".
> it cannot plan it sales. It can only estimate because it operates on a common market.
So the USSR as a whole was not selling (exporting) on a common market?
> Central planned system will just go on whatever the "sales".
I do not understand this. The "demand" of products within the USSR should not be compared to the sales of the corp, but to the corp's internal demand for stuff (e.g. office supplies).
Anyway, I'm not a proponent of central planning an economy. I see markets as a great, organic and bottom-up way of having supply and demand meet. I'm no proponent of protection-by-law of the unlimited hoarding of private property; I'm no proponent of the centralized state. Instead I'd like to see the lower level of gov't to be the most powerful. I guess I'm a mutualist.
> So the USSR as a whole was not selling (exporting) on a common market?
What goods was that? Military supplies? On that it operated on a market economy with the West and therefore got competition and a feedback loop and therefore produced some useful things.
Soviet exported oil & gas, but that was also part of global market, which Reagan used against the Soviet by dumping the price. Soviet was largely an oil & gas economy.
Apart from that Soviet didn't produce much consumer goods and exports of that to other communist countries was part of planned system.
> but to the corp's internal demand for stuff
In a corporation you know that you need goods based on what you are producing. If you are white collar company, it is quite logical to have office supplies and if you are IT company, you need to have computers and so on.
However in a central planned system, you have to take into account the entire population what they need. But how would a planner know what to who when it does not know what you are producing. Ask every individual?
If one person wants a blue pen and another red pen, what should the central planner do with that information? Produce two black pens?
That is the Local knowledge problem I wrote about in this comment
Even if corporations plans their entire operation it is not the same as central planning, because even if a corporation plans its production it cannot plan it sales. It can only estimate because it operates on a common market.
Estimation of sales plans hiring, production etc, however the actual real sales is a feedback loop into that process, where in a central planned system that feedback loop does not exist. Central planned system will just go on whatever the "sales".