An inquiry into partner selection in construction supply chain based on Support Vector Machine

Obtaining permanent competitive advantages in current intense market competition, it is crucial to establish high efficient and stable partnership for the enterprises in the construction supply chain. Whether a suitable partner is selected or not has a profound impact on the performance of the entire chain and the interests of all members of it. This paper focuses on solving this practical problem. Improving the original evaluation methods, it constructs a new index system from a new angle of view based on investigation and the existing outcomes. At the same time, it proposes a theoretical evaluation model of the candidate partners based on Support Vector Machine. The new model can overcome the disadvantages of the inherent subjectivity and uncertainty of the traditional methods. In addition, an empirical study has been conducted and the results show that the new model is effective and has a good ability of generalizing. Finally, this paper provides a scientific and objective method for the managers´ decision-making of the partner selection in the construction supply chain.