Improving Strategic Thinking in Management Education with System Dynamics based ILEs: Reflections on a Case Study

This paper focuses on the use of System Dynamics based Interactive Learning Environments (ILEs) for processes of individual learning, presenting and discussing the main features of a case study related to service quality management. The effectiveness of the ILE was assessed through a computer based experiment run in a master-course classroom. The paper shows that the ILE supported players to learn to: a) balance the growth of demand-side and supply-side resources; b) simultaneously control tangible and intangible resources; c) take into account the presence and the effects of timedelays; d) develop and apply policies, understanding the short and long term consequences of their decisions