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The monograph examines firstly the magnitude of demand for capital investment in individual items of distribution equipment—ships, aircraft and motor vehicles, It then concentrates on financing motor transport, examining the objectives of acquisition analysis and the relative importance of the company controlling its own fleet. Alternative methods of distributing the product are examined to show how transport involvement can be minimised according to the marketing strategy adopted. The monograph considers, in some detail, alternative approaches to commercial vehicle acquisition. The broad principles of the subject are discussed and three common methods presented—outright purchase, hire purchase and leasing. Worked examples are shown for each method, using discounted cash flow techniques and the net present costs of the alternatives compared. The final section of the paper examines the changing demand for capital in the company for transport from its launch as a one man operation through to the mature large organisation.

This chapter explores how technology availability and costs influence public opinion, vehicle ownership decisions, travel, and location choices. Attitudes towards electric vehicles (EVs) are considered within the broader context of other linked technological trends affecting automobility, with a particular focus on the shift to (electric powertrain) autonomous vehicles (AVs).

This chapter draws upon modelling of quantitative survey data from 1,426 Americans, which employed regression analysis to predict and understand variables linked to the preference for an AV over a human driver, percentage of trips taken by an AV, percentage of trips using dynamic ride-sharing (DRS) inside a shared autonomous vehicle (SAV), and factors affecting EV charging access in home and at work/school.

The findings show that full EV charging times significantly affect decisions for next household vehicle purchase. A lack of charging ability at home appears to be a significantly greater hindrance to respondents’ willingness to purchase full EVs than does a lack of charging ability at work. And home location choice impacts of AVs are not expected to be substantial. Considering future EV/AV ride-sharing (an important component of sustainable future mobility systems), DRS may ease congestion if SAV riders widely adopt DRS for work and school trips; however, sharing with strangers may not be popular in practice.

This chapter is useful to manufacturers and fleet operators for pricing and marketing decisions, and public transit authorities/providers can benefit from understanding evolving travel choices and land use patterns to craft equitable policies, and model future transportation demand to help plan services and infrastructure projects.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the following research questions: Is the Portuguese corporate income tax (CIT) losing its internal consistency by extending the autonomous taxation of expenses (ATE)? Are receipts derived from autonomous taxes so relevant that what began as an exception is gradually becoming a permanent feature of the income tax? Given the constitutional principle that corporate taxation should be fundamentally based on income, is the taxation of expenses unconstitutional? Is Portugal an international outlier, in applying this type of taxation to corporate expenses?

The methodology used in the paper is a blend of legal research method and case study analysis. The interpretation of legal texts and the ratio legis discussion (hermeneutical side), the evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of autonomous taxes (argumentative approach) and the use of aggregate data to gauge an impression of autonomous taxes’ impact on global tax receipts (empirical side) will, jointly, be used to analyse the topic. Autonomous taxation is a case study on how a (albeit distortive) solution is being applied in an European Union (EU) country to significantly enhance corporate-related tax revenue.

The authors conclude that autonomous taxation is a relevant source of revenue and its elimination is not foreseeable, at least in the medium term. Moreover, the extension of the tax base is gradually transforming CIT in a kind of dual tax, by charging profits and some expenses. The Constitutional Court, stressing the equity principle, has not ruled autonomous taxation unconstitutional, invoking usefulness against tax evasion. Finally, with the exception of some Portuguese-speaking countries, no other comparable international experience is observed.

The autonomous taxes (ATE) and its progressive enlargement imply, on the one hand, that the CIT has been slowly, but inexorably, losing its sole purpose of taxing profits, and imposing a tax penalty on an increasing set of accounting expenses. On the other hand, the growing number of expenses subjected to taxation leads some authors to ponder if the Portuguese tax regime is losing attractiveness. By increasing ATE’s scope, the effective rate tends to move upwards, countering reductions in the statutory rate. Finally, tax law will increasingly influence managers’ daily decisions, given the set of expenses targeted by autonomous taxes.

Taking into account the aim of this study, the discussion of a Portuguese particular feature of corporate taxation can highlight useful policy points to a broader audience. Many Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries face a dire situation in public finances. Therefore, given the pressure to increase tax receipts, the ATE can be a case study on how a (albeit distortive) solution is being applied in an EU country to significantly enhance corporate-related tax revenue.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse to what extent financial incentives under the green tax reform introduced in Portugal in 2014 drive behaviours of acquiring a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV).

The existent literature identifies a number of factors that influence the interest for PHEV acquisition, including access to financial incentives. However, empirical evidence is not clear as to which factors are more relevant. The authors extend an existent theoretical model of five factors by including ten factors. On this basis, the study carries out a survey and develops a structural equation model to investigate what drives the interest to acquire a PHEV.

Financial incentives are superior to other factors in explaining the interest in acquiring a PHEV. Education, lower income levels, living in larger cities and driving smaller vehicles shape the interest on these vehicles differently. Financial incentives were found to closely offset the difference in price between conventional vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

This study finds that public policies can be powerful in shaping consumers’ behaviour, although the amount of the financial incentive is key to triggering a large-scale effect.

The survey in this study allows an in-depth and ex ante analysis of the interest in acquiring PHEV under a green tax reform, taking into account other dimensions and socio-economic variables not accounted for in existent studies.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an original model and a solution procedure for solving jointly three main strategic fleet management problems (fleet composition, replacement and make-or-buy), taking into account interdependencies between them.

The three main strategic fleet management problems were analyzed in detail to identify interdependencies between them, mathematically modeled in terms of integer nonlinear programing (INLP) and solved using evolutionary based method of a solver compatible with a spreadsheet.

There are no optimization methods combining the analyzed problems, but it is possible to mathematically model them jointly and solve together using a solver compatible with a spreadsheet obtaining a solution/fleet management strategy answering the questions: Keep currently exploited vehicles in a fleet or remove them? If keep, how often to replace them? If remove then when? How many perspective/new vehicles, of what types, brand new or used ones and when should be put into a fleet? The relatively large scale instance of problem (50 vehicles) was solved based on a real-life data. The obtained results occurred to be better/cheaper by 10% than the two reference solutions – random and do-nothing ones.

The methodology of developing optimal fleet management strategy by solving jointly three main strategic fleet management problems is proposed allowing for the reduction of the fleet exploitation costs by adjusting fleet size, types of exploited vehicles and their exploitation periods.

Sees the objective of teaching financial management to be to help managers and potential managers to make sensible investment and financing decisions. Acknowledges that financial theory teaches that investment and financing decisions should be based on cash flow and risk. Provides information on payback period; return on capital employed, earnings per share effect, working capital, profit planning, standard costing, financial statement planning and ratio analysis. Seeks to combine the practical rules of thumb of the traditionalists with the ideas of the financial theorists to form a balanced approach to practical financial management for MBA students, financial managers and undergraduates.

The purpose of this research is to explore the practical implications of brand management decisions, particularly those involving the combination of luxury and mass‐market brands within the same organization through merger or acquisition. The aim of the paper is to expand brand theory by linking it to administrative heritage in the context of the increasingly integrated global automobile industry.

Integrated case studies of Jaguar, Mercedes‐Benz, and Saab illustrate the effects of brand extension and dilution through the lenses of brand development, luxury brands, and administrative heritage theories. The recent history of acquisitions and mergers involving luxury automobile brands provides background to the in‐depth examination of these three specific instances. Conclusions are reached by comparing and contrasting the experiences of these firms relative to their mass‐market siblings.

The blending of luxury and mass‐market automobile brands in one corporate portfolio engages advantages of scale and scope economies, but induces potentially fatal brand corrosion. Consumer perceptions of luxury brands are influenced by the degree of commonality with the associated mass‐market brands, independent of whether the luxury brand or the mass‐market brand is the dominant corporate vehicle.

The paper provides insights useful to practitioners as well as academic researchers. The novel juxtapositioning of the concepts of luxury brands, administrative heritage, and global strategic management through mergers/acquisitions demonstrates the unintended consequences of complex interactions in a dynamic industry. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research.

In the recent decades, research and industry on city logistics have tried to seek for environment-friendly solutions that are efficient enough to satisfy both society and suppliers’ needs. One of the potential solutions is the use of small-size electric vehicles (SEVs), due to their improved energy efficiency, local zero emissions, and lower traffic disturbance.

In spite of all the benefits of SEV for society, advertised through experimental trials focused on social and environmental benefits, research on these vehicles’ impacts seems to overlook the effects on private stakeholders operations, namely, disregarding the replacement rate needed to assure the same delivery patterns and their purchasing and battery charging implications.

In this chapter, the authors contribute in filling this research gap by considering private interests, related to operation costs levels (running and driving costs), service levels, and efficiency in the promotion of SEV. Simultaneously, its balance with public interests, related with sustainability, quality of life, mobility, and environmental issues are also addressed.

The authors aim to evaluate the usage of SEV in this research and to estimate the effects of replacing conventional vans by SEV on city logistics operations. The results of this quantitative analysis enlighten if SEVs are indeed a viable solution to satisfy public and private stakeholders, when operational and external costs are fully accounted.

The chapter presents a case study that addresses the effects of replacing vans by SEV on city logistics operations in the city of Oporto (Portugal), considering public and private stakeholders’ interests. The study compares four scenarios of 5%, 10%, 30%, and 70% of SEVs replacing diesel vans used in transport and unloading operations. The four scenarios are tested on different geographical scales: street and city levels. First, the authors estimate how the use of SEV in city logistics affects traffic, energy consumption, and emissions. Second, the respective operating and external costs are quantified and the acquisition and battery issues are discussed.

When considering the goal of promoting SEV as a sustainable city logistics policy, under a methodology focused on mobility, operational performance, and environmental externalities, the authors concluded (a) the replacement rate SEV:van is determinant to make a decision on whether or not to use SEVs replacing vans, (b) SEVs are economically competitive with conventional vans if the replacement rate is 1:1, (c) SEVs have a better performance at the street level rather than at the city level, (d) SEVs can be used with normal traffic as a niche of market (lower than 5%), and (e) SEVs benefits exist, but they are not significant enough to drive suppliers for their adoption.