Innovator: Jawad Abrache, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jawad-abrache-b733779/
Organisation: School of Business Administration, Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane
Setting of the practice: face to face
Description of the practice:
This practice is centered around the innovative use of mathematical programming tools and techniques to enhance the management science offering of a traditional MBA curriculum, and introduce MBA students in a gentle way to the use of a tandem made of:
1) GMPL, the GNU Mathematical Programming Modelling Language,
2) Julia, a programming language tailored for data science, and
3) GLPK, an open source linear and integer programming solver, as an alternative to the traditional spreadsheet approach common to MBA-level management science courses.
More specifically, starting from a real managerial problem faced by SBA, namely the optimization of its class scheduling process, the MBA students enrolled in the “Business Decision Making Problem and Management Science” course are accompanied by the instructor in the traditional problem-solving cycle as follows:
⛳️ the case is discussed and relevant data is gathered from the School stakeholders;
⛳️ the modelling choices are pondered and consensus is reached that a network flow model is the most appropriate option;
⛳️ the implantation phase then follows.
Our learning innovation relates specifically to this last phase of the cycle where the students are first invited to implement a traditional spreadsheet solution, and in that process discover themselves the challenges and limitations of this approach; they are then directed to an alternative approach, corresponding to: use a generic mathematical model for classroom scheduling for higher abstraction and separation between the static model and the dynamic specific case (dynamic), use GMPL to translate the model and the corresponding data in a streamlined and standardized manner, then create Julia code as a bridge between the model, the data, and the GLPK solver.
An anonymous opinion survey about the case study was conducted with a part-time MBA class offered in Summer 2021. The survey had two groups of questions in relation to (1) the relevance of the case in the context of the course, the degree of interest for the practice of business decision making, and the degree of challenge perceived in modeling and implementation, and (2) the degree of students’ interest in other implementations than GMPL/GLPK. The survey’s findings reinforce our own belief that this new approach prepares MBA students better to the challenges they are likely to face as decision makers with real business cases, with exposure to open-source software for solving complex problems, and a generally steeper learning curve that develops their resilience, independent learning skills, and self-confidence.
This teaching case can be easily transferred to most MBA curricula with a management science component. Indeed, all the tools used (GMPL, GLPK, and Julia) are freely available and learners are not faced with a steep learning curve to be able to grasp the basics. To further help potential adopters, our Julia code (only 74 actual lines of code, thanks to Julia’s expressiveness and the availability of helpful libraries) is also available to the community upon request.