Abstract:
According to Bruzelius and Norton (1997), the business environment is constantly changing and the demands of customers for adaptability among organizations tend to increase. Demands from customers, technological development, change of value and globalization are factors that drive the need to change and develop an organization.
It is hard to get advantages by quickly adapting technology to products or by managing financial assets/debts in an efficient manner. The ability to handle organizations intangible assets is of greater importance to reach success, then the ability to invest and manage tangible assets. (Kaplan and Norton, 1997)
New techniques for organizing and managing companies have been introduced due to changes in the business environment during the past decade. These changes are mainly due to growing globalization and increased competition. Thus, increased interest in changing and improved management control. (Kald and Nilsson, 2000)
Several different techniques can be used in a multi-dimensional performance model, depending upon type of value. One type of measurement that has been historically viewed by hospitality organizations in terms of product and service efficiency is quality. In the 1980s however, many of the hospitality organizations were focused to move away from the idea of efficiency and put more importance on customer needs. (Paraskevas, 2001)
A well known philosophy, which gives total overview on quality, is Total Quality Management. TQM refers to a wide set of management and control processes and was designed to focus an entire origination on satisfying the customers, by providing products or services that provide the vest possible job. (Talha, 2004
Today, economic conditions make it necessary for all organizations to review and tightly control cost and expenditures. In order to achieve competitive advantage and efficiency, organizations have to seek profitable ways to differentiate themselves (Wong and Dean, 1999). There are many different strategies to reach success and the delivery of high service quality, is considered vital, especially during the times of intensive competition (Ibid). The intensified focus has made quality as a business objective where service quality is a key success factor that can bring significant strategic advantages. (Erstad, 2001).
