Strategic Management and Art Museums: The Case Study of the Historical Museum of the University of Athens

Abstract

Strategic management is that set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the continuing and future performance of an organization. Especially, the strategic planning is determining the optimal future for an organization, and the changes required to achieve it. Museums as any other cultural institution generally conduct strategic plans for any or all of the following reasons (performance, funding, accreditation, staff motivation, expansion, etc.). There are some key parts (organization analysis, formulated strategy, developed goals, developed objectives, developed action plans, evaluation) of a strategic plan during a strategic planning process. In this paper, it is presented and analyzed three case studies, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Historical Museum of the University of Athens, as applications of strategic planning and targeting in the specific area of art museums.