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As well known, in the finite element method, the calculation and the location of the elements of the matrix C of the coefficients requires a lot of calculation times and memory employment especially for 3D problems. Besides, once the matrix C is properly filled, the solution of the system of linear equations is computationally expensive.

The paper consists of two parts. In the first part, to quickly calculate and store only the non‐null terms of the matrix of the system, a geometrical analysis on three‐dimensional domains has been carried out. The second part of the paper deals with the solution of the system of linear equations and proposes a procedure for increasing the solution speed: the traditional method of the conjugate gradient is hybridized with an adequate genetic algorithm (Genetic Conjugate Gradient).

The proposed geometrical procedure allows us to calculate the non‐null terms and their location within the matrix C by simple recursive formulas. The results concerning the genetic conjugate gradient show that the convergence to the solution of the linear system is obtained in a much smaller number iterations and the calculation time is also significantly decreased.

The approach proposed to analyze the geometrical space has been turned out to be very useful in terms of memory saving and computational cost. The genetic conjugate gradient is an original hybrid method to solve large scale problems quicker than the traditional conjugate gradient. An application of the method has been shown for current fields generated by grounding electrodes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how perceived performance risk moderates consumers' evaluations of different types of promotions, including extra free product promotions (e.g. buy‐one‐get‐one‐free deals or BOGOFs) and price discounts (e.g. 50 per cent off). Some evidence shows that consumers prefer extra free products to discounts because of mental accounting, and the way that these different types of promotions are framed. This research explores a new moderating link in the consumer behaviour literature by showing that perceived performance risk, through its effect on a consumer's tendency to stockpile, moderates consumers' evaluations of extra free product promotions and price discounts.

This research uses a cross‐sectional experiment to manipulate perceived performance risk, type of promotion and promotion size, and measures consumers' value perceptions and purchase intentions. The experimental method provides greater internal validity and addresses calls in the literature for more experimental research in pricing and sales promotion studies.

The results indicate a clear and strong moderating effect for perceived risk on consumer value perceptions and preferences for extra free product promotions and price discounts. Specifically, for products low on performance risk consumers tend to attribute higher value to extra free product promotions than they do to discounts. The reverse occurs for products high on performance risk where consumers attribute higher value perceptions towards price discounts than they do to extra free product promotions. These findings have implications for a variety of different product categories including innovative new products, products with higher absolute promotion levels, and other categories where perceived risk is likely to vary.

These findings are consistent with and extend the literature on sales promotions by showing that existing theory holds for products low on performance risk, but that the theory should be extended for products high on performance risk. Therefore, retailers and managers should think carefully about how to frame promotions based on consumer perceived risk. The findings here highlight and present a more complete picture of the implications of different promotional types.

A variety of studies have examined consumer response to the design of a promotional offer (e.g. discount size, absolute versus relative amounts). Yet few studies have compared and examined consumer response to monetary and nonmonetary promotions. This study is the first study to examine the moderating role of perceived performance risk on consumer perceptions of different promotional frames and contributes by integrating literature in the area of perceived risk with literature in the area of sales promotions to provide a broader theory of consumer response to different promotional deals.

This research aims to integrate two theories of reference price formation and to test the resulting exemplar‐prototype hybrid (EPH) model's predictions. Study 1 tests the predictions of the EPH model regarding price attractiveness ratings. Study 2 helps to document the process by which the EPH model operates.

The investigation consists of a pair of laboratory experiments that manipulate the skew (positive, negative) of historic price data, and the frequency of the modal price (high, low) in the price history.

Both the skew of prices to which consumers are exposed and the frequency with which the modal price occurs affect recall of the modal price and evaluations of the attractiveness of subsequent prices.

Consumers rely on information about both the price range and individual price points to form reference prices. Common models of reference price effects may be improved by including a non‐linear estimate of the effect of modal price frequency.

Managers are advised to offer a consistent regular price from which occasional discounts of varying value are offered to create a strong memory trace in consumers' minds for the higher “regular” price and avoid such a trace for any one discounted price.

Prior studies detail aspects of the relationship between reference prices and the attractiveness of market prices. This is the first attempt to integrate, rather than contrast, the two predominant types of theories (range‐based, price‐point based) of reference price formation.

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the determinants of consumers' evaluations and purchase intentions of gift promotions. Factors analysed relate to the promoted product, the gift, the relationship between the product and the gift, and consumer traits and perceptions.

A 2 (product type: utilitarian vs hedonic) × 2 (gift type: utilitarian vs hedonic) × 2 (brand type: high equity vs medium equity) between‐subjects factorial design was undertaken. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses on a sample of 247 respondents in the UK.

Gift attractiveness is the most important driver of consumers' overall evaluation of gift promotions, followed by the attitude toward the promoted brand, the perceived fit between the promoted product and the gift, the hedonic nature of the gift, plus value expression and entertainment benefits perceived by consumers. Results also reveal that deal proneness is positively associated with the hedonic benefits of value expression benefit and entertainment benefit. Finally, the overall evaluation of gift promotions with both brand attitudes and deal proneness positively influences consumers' purchase intentions.

To generalise these findings, future research should use a wider sample.

The findings of this study provide guidelines for marketers designing their gift promotional strategies.

The increased popularity of gift promotions necessitates a better understanding of the factors influencing consumers' evaluations. This study addresses the lack of research in this area by simultaneously investigating the effect of different key factors.

This paper aims to design an algorithm able to locate all the possible dangerous areas generated by the leaking of a fault current in a grounding system (i.e. the areas where the limits of the technical standards are not respected) and thus locate, inside each area, the point which takes locally the maximum value of touch voltage.

A fast evolutionary‐deterministic algorithm to solve constrained multimodal optimization problems is proposed. The algorithm is composed by three algorithmic blocks: a Quasi Genetic Algorithm to find a population of feasible solutions, a Fitness Sharing Selection to choose a subpopulation of feasible and fitter solutions having high diversity, a Hooke‐Jeeves Algorithm to find all the global and local feasible maxima.

The proposed algorithm has been successfully applied to various current field (i.e. to many shapes of grounding grids) problems to find the dangerous values of touch voltages generated by various grounding systems having any shape and it has turned out to be fast and reliable.

For this kind of problems, in fact, there is a lack, in literature, of multimodal optimization methods under safety constraints and the application of classical methods (e.g. genetic algorithms or deterministic methods) would be often inadequate since these methods are made so as to converge towards a single maximum point and so they unavoidably lose the information related to all the other possible maxima. On the contrary, a good application of the proposed allows the overcoming of these limits.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate literature in the pioneer brand advantage area with the literature on reference prices to examine how reference prices work in a pioneer and follower brand context. There is evidence to suggest that pioneers have a psychological advantage over follower brands, yet how that manifests in terms of reference price effects is not fully understood. The study tests whether the pioneer price and follower price have equal influence on reference prices, or whether the pioneer has a stronger influence.

This research uses a longitudinal experiment to simulate a market of a pioneer brand followed by follower brand, and measures the relative effects of pioneer and follower prices on reference price, value perceptions and purchase intentions. This approach allows greater confidence in the causal nature of the findings.

The results indicate a clear and strong causal effect for the pioneer's price on price and value perceptions of the pioneer and follower, whereas the follower's price only seems to influence perceptions of the follower, not the pioneer. This suggests that consumers overweight the price of the pioneer brand (as exemplar) in the category, and reference price perceptions are systematically biased in its direction. However, these effects were stronger for the more innovative product category being examined. For a less innovative pioneer this effect was not so strong. These findings imply that reference price is brand specific but the more innovative the pioneer brand the more influence it has on reference prices.

These findings are consistent with and extend the literature on pioneer advantage by suggesting that the pioneer can define ideal levels of objective attributes such as price, rather than just defining the ideal attribute combination of subjective, less discernible attributes. This highlights and presents a more complete picture of the natural advantages to product innovation. It also implies the need to consider the multi‐faceted nature of reference price in measurement and research.

A number of studies have examined reference price effects in existing and established product categories. Yet few studies have examined reference price effects in new product categories despite calls in the literature to do so. This study is one of the first studies to examine reference price effects in new product categories and contributes by integrating the literature on pioneer brand advantage with the literature on reference price by examining asymmetric pricing effects between pioneer and follower brands in new product categories.

This study aims to examine how and when trainers' muscle mass impacts service purchase of personal fitness training, drawing upon signaling theory. Specifically, the authors investigated (1) the mediating role of perceived competence in the relationship between trainers' muscle mass (highly vs moderately muscular) and customers' service registration intention and (2) the moderating role of customer expertise in this mediating mechanism.

The authors conceptualized trainers' muscle mass, developed its experimental stimuli and validated them through the two pretests (total n = 387). Using the validated stimuli, the authors conducted the two experiments (total n = 802). In both experiments, the authors recruited participants via MTurk using the convenience sampling method and employed a single-factor between-subject design based on random assignment.

Findings supported the authors’ proporsed model. Consumers perceived highly (vs moderately) muscular trainers as more competent, which in turn engendered greater service registration intention. This effect emerged for expert consumers but not for novice consumers.

This study is one of the first attempts to empirically test the influence of trainers' muscle mass on consumer acquisition in the context of personal fitness training. It also expands the sport marketing literature to the consumer psychology and behavior fields addressing the characteristics of sport-service providers. The findings also provide fitness organizations with managerial insights into how to effectively leverage trainers' physical appearance as a marketing tool.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers respond differently to “scratch and save (SAS)” promotions versus “tensile price claims (TPC).” SAS promotions provide a possible discount (determined probabilistically) but conceal the exact amount until purchase. Tensile price claims (e.g. “up to 25 percent off on items marked with a red tag”) make imprecise price promotional claims. In addition to making indefinite price claims, SAS promotions (e.g. scratch and save up to 25 percent off) include gambling elements; the exact discount is determined randomly for individual consumers by a scratch‐off card.

Two experimental studies are conducted.

Evidence from two experiments indicates that consumers perceive SAS promotions to be more ambiguous than tensile price claims. In addition, the results demonstrate consumer uncertainty towards SAS promotions but also consumer willingness to gamble: deep discount SAS promotions are perceived as more attractive than limited‐scope tensile price claims.

The findings suggest that consumers perceive SAS offers more enticing than limited tensile price claims as the proposed discount increases. Furthermore, establishing a minimum savings offer could be used to encourage consumers to shop at retailers offering SAS promotions.

Limited work has focused on examining how consumers respond to SAS promotions because SAS promotions are a relatively new store‐level promotional tool. Furthermore, no research effort has been extended to directly compare consumers' perceptions of SAS promotions with tensile price claims.

Sets out a method for determining the dangerous areas on the soil surface. The touch voltages are calculated by a Maxwell's subareas program. The search for the areas in which the touch voltages are dangerous is performed by a suitably modified genetic algorithm. The fitness is redefined so that the genetic algorithm does not lead directly to the only optimum solution, but to a certain number of solutions having pre‐arranged “goodness” characteristics. The algorithm has been called “quasi‐genetic” algorithm and has been successfully applied to various grounding systems.

Organisational commitment has been studied for several decades. Research on the human resource side of mergers and acquisitions has typically emphasised the human resource ‘problems’ related to integration, such as low motivation, increased dissatisfaction, low commitment and performance, stress, leadership and power struggles, and high employee turnover. However, there is scant research on organisational commitment in the context of acquisitions. Yet, based on prior research, organisational commitment is important in terms of employee retention, commitment to change and post-acquisition performance. The model developed in this chapter explains what influences organisational commitment in acquisitions and how to build organisational commitment towards the acquirer. A number of propositions are derived from the model, and the implications for M&A research and practice are discussed.