Theatre business strategy in Madrid's "corrales de comedias": What we learn from the account books and other documentary sources (1700-1744)

This study aims to analyse the account books of the comedy corrals (corrales de comedias) in the period 1700-1744. These books are preserved in the Archivo de la Villa de Madrid, located since the 1990s in the Conde-Duque barracks. The fully original hypothesis that emerges from this analysis is that the managers of Madrid's early comedy corrals developed a long term value creation strategy and system for strategic management and social responsibility to survive in an environment of crisis. The characteristics of this system very closely resemble today's novel proposals of the Balanced Scorecard. The research is based on consultation of documentary sources from 1699-1719 and the account books of the comedy corrals held in the Archive of the Villa of Madrid, as well as the work of British researchers John E. Varey and Charles Davis. The study seeks to overcome some limitations of previous studies by analysing previously unpublished data. Our investigation shows that account books are much more than an ordered set of figures and data; they demonstrate how the civil managers of the corrals went beyond mere accounting to intervene in areas of personnel management, control of theatrical innovation and analysis of audience satisfaction.