Toward a balanced framework to evaluate and improve the internal functioning of non-profit economic development business incubators. A study in Belgium

Non-profit organisations, such as economic development incubators, may adapt the balanced scorecard and strategy map in their efforts to improve their internal functioning. In this paper, we employ qualitative research among non-profit economic development incubators in Antwerp, Belgium, to modify these tools. By adapting these frameworks, we extend the current incubator literature where predominantly individual measures (such as tenant survival or the incubator's occupancy rate) are employed to evaluate incubator performance. Incubator managers and their funding organisations may use our adapted strategy map and balanced scorecard to uncover the incubator's internal processes that need improvement. The evaluation tools allow them to go beyond the objective and individual performance measures that often are used to evaluate the incubator's performance. The tools can also be used to benchmark several incubators and help funding organisations to make more informed resource allocation decisions.