Performance Measurement Systems in Tourism, Hospitality, and Leisure Small Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Balanced Scorecard Perspective

In response to the United Kingdom’s government’s desire to improve the performance of tourism, hospitality, and leisure small medium-sized enterprises, this article analyzes the performance measurement processes within 10 best practice organizations. Related to contemporary approaches to improving business performance in the management literature, performance measurement approaches are analyzed using the balanced scorecard framework. An exploratory case study approach using the balanced scorecard as the theoretical framework was taken to explore and elicit critical success factors in performance measurement. Results revealed that four key concepts drove measurement and performance evaluation systems across the sample. These were the exercising of budgetary control with a view to increasing total revenue, the undertaking of customer relationship management as a means of improving quality of service and customer retention, the necessity for strategic management in managing internal business processes, and collaboration (both inter and intra) to drive innovation and learning. The article also proposes a balanced scorecard template for hotels.