PERFORMANCE IN CULTURAL SPHERE: CLUSTER ANALYSIS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE INDICATORS OF RUSSIAN THEATRES
Cultural organizations are important players of the public sector of the economy. Recent trends such as growing competition within the industry and among alternative entertainment venues and attractions, tighter restrictions on budget spending, etc. make performance measurement of cultural organizations highly relevant. The market of cultural organizations is heterogeneous. Cultural organizations have multiple strategic goals that do not boil down to financial results, but concern social, artistic and educational impacts. Currently more than 630 organizations form the theatrical network monitored by the Ministry of Culture of Russia. Such a large number of theatres implies that they are different in scope, aims, and resources possessed. Assessing their performance thus becomes a complicated task. The article describes the results of empirical analysis based on panel statistical data of the Russian Ministry of Culture from 2012 to 2016. The data covers a total number of 3,182 objects. The presented research has two aims. Firstly, we identify a set of key input, output and outcome indicators that represent a comprehensive approach to measuring the performance of theatres. Secondly, we identify clusters within the general population of Russian theatres and describe their key features. Two econometric methods are used: principal component analysis and k-means cluster analysis. The findings of the study reveal 12 principal components that seem to be a handy research tool for performance measurement of cultural organizations. Furthermore, four clusters of theatres with specific characteristics are distinguished. The author assumes that these clusters represent distinct theatre profiles and that the performance of theatres should be measured within these clusters since they represent seemingly homogenous groups of objects.