Cooperative Evolutionary Game and Applications in Construction Supplier Tendency

Qianqian Shi,Qian Li,Jianbo Zhu

doi:10.1155/2018/8401813

Abstract

Major construction projects have a great influence on the national economy and society, wherein cooperative relationship between construction suppliers plays an increasingly significant role in the overall supply chain system. However, the relationships between suppliers are noncontractual, multistage, dynamic, and complicated. To gain a deeper insight into the suppliers’ cooperative relationships, an evolutionary game model is developed to explore the cooperation tendency of multisuppliers. A replicator dynamic system is further formulated to investigate the evolutionary stable strategies of multisuppliers. Then, fourteen “when-then” type scenarios are concluded and classified into six different evolutionary tracks. Meanwhile, the critical influencing factors are identified. The results show that the suppliers’ production capacity, owner-supplier contract, and the owner’s incentive mechanism influence the cooperation tendency of suppliers directly. The managerial implications contribute to insightful references for a more stable cooperative relationship between the owner and suppliers.

Highlights

Critical infrastructure is an asset or system which is essential for the maintenance of vital societal and economic functions [1,2,3], areas concerned including the facilities for water supply, security services, power system, transportation, and so forth
This paper focuses on the cooperation tendency among suppliers who adopt prefabrication in major construction projects
Based on the research proposed by Friedman [43], the stability condition at the equilibrium points can be obtained by the application of Jacobian matrix

Summary

Introduction

Critical infrastructure is an asset or system which is essential for the maintenance of vital societal and economic functions [1,2,3], areas concerned including the facilities for water supply, security services, power system, transportation, and so forth. Major construction project is one of the most important forms of critical infrastructure, such as bridges and highways. If major construction projects fail, the consequences would be enormous in scale, influencing national politics, economy, society, environmental protection, public health system, and national security [2]. Adequate attention should be placed on the major construction projects. There are still great complexities in the construction of major construction projects, especially those manifested by complex technology, high duration, and quality requirement. In the construction of Hong KongZhuhai-Macao Bridge, 425,000 million tons of steel needs to be manufactured within three years, which has brought a great challenge. Efficient application of prefabrication enables the major construction projects to attain higher productivity, improved quality, and significant time-cost savings [4]

Objectives

Results

Conclusion