Essentially, Gorbachev intended to transform the Soviet economy, by doing so, he formed a decentralized economy. So, instead of reforming communism in Soviet Russia, he unintentionally allowed the country to adapt to a democratic system.
A communist economy is a centralized, planned economic system, meaning the government controls the means of production. By decentralizing the economy, the government looses its power of the economy, and it becomes more of a mixed economy (the government still has regulations, but not complete control).