• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.25-32
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• 2019

Purpose - Pricing strategy is a very effective marketing activity and has a significant impact on consumer purchasing decisions. Numerous studies have investigated the effects of various pricing strategies. However, tensile price claims have received little attention in the literature. It is thus necessary to investigate how different forms of tensile price claims affect consumer response. This study uses the consumer self-confidence level as a moderator of consumer behavior. Research Research design, data, and methodology - This study investigates the effect of four different tensile price claims (i.e., maximum discount, minimum discount, average discount, and range discount advertisements) on consumers' perceived savings. A survey was conducted to collect data for testing hypotheses. Results - The results show that consumers with high levels of self-confidence perceive more savings for maximum discount advertisements than minimum discount advertisements, for range discount advertisements than average discount advertisements. On the other hand, consumers with low self-confidence feel more perceived savings for average discount advertisements than range discount advertisement. Conclusions - The results of this study provide a new insight into the effectiveness of tensile pricing based on consumer self-confidence levels, which may provide valuable theoretical and practical applications.

• Carbon letters
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.162-170
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• 2014

Pitch is an attractive raw material for carbon fiber precursors due to its low cost stemming from its availability as a residue of coking and petroleum processes. Ford Motor Company reported a carbon fiber target price of $11.0/kg by using a fast cycle-time manufacturing method with carbon fiber in an inexpensive format, allowing for an average retail price of gasoline of $3.58/gallon. They also recommended the use of carbon fiber with strength of 1700 MPa, modulus of 170 GPa, and 1.5% elongation. This study introduced a ca. $5.5{\mu}m$ carbon fiber with 2000 MPa tensile strength obtained from a precursor through simple distillation of petroleum residue. Petroleum pitch based carbon nanofibers prepared via electrospinning were characterized and potential applications were introduced on the basis of their large specific surface area and relatively high electrical conductivity.