Balanced scorecard delivers improvements to the Indiana bed and breakfast industry – starting with its websites.

Anyone staying in a bed & breakfast operation in Indiana might notice a marked improvement in future – in their website, at least. And the new commitment to quality improvement in the state’s B&Bs is thanks to one thing – the balanced scorecard.

The Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing reported in 2004 that an exploratory study had been carried out involving the balanced scorecard (BSC).

Authors used accepted balanced scorecard theory

They study’s authors used the balanced scorecard approach to conduct a study of the state’s B&B websites, rating them in four different areas – in line with accepted balanced scorecard theory.

The balanced scorecard areas were:

• User-friendliness: how easy to use the site was
• Site attractiveness: how good it looked
• Marketing effectiveness: how successful it was likely to be at generating revenue
• Technical aspects: how efficiently and successfully it worked

A team of trained balanced scorecard evaluators looked at 20 websites for organisations affiliated to the Indiana B&B Association (IBBA) – demonstrating the flexibility of balanced scorecard theory in being applied in less than obvious fields.

Balanced scorecard results

The IBBA balanced scorecard found that the B&B websites were strong in the ‘site attractiveness’ area – but needed improvements in the other three areas.

Using the balanced scorecard to assess the websites led to a conclusion which may not have been obvious using traditional measurement concepts, which focus heavily on a website’s design at the expense of other areas – particularly marketing effectiveness, which seems unusual given the commercial purpose of most sites (especially, it is reasonable to assume, in the case of bed & breakfasts).

Whether the IBBA’s work has led to further improvements in the Indian bed & breakfast industry is not known – but the balanced scorecard approach could easily be adapted to measure the B&B’s themselves, leading to a comprehensive improvement programme across the state.