Capital budgeting practices: A comparative study between a port company in Brazil and in Spain

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the capital budgeting practices used in port company in Brazil and another in Spain from a comparative perspective. To meet this objective an empirical research was conducted to study these two ports and a questionnaire was administered to collect data. The results showed that the Brazilian port uses only the internal rate of return for capital budgeting analysis combined with the random rate to determine the minimum acceptable return, and scenario analysis to assess investment risks. The Spanish port, compared to the Brazilian one, uses all methods, including payback, internal rate of return, net present value, real options valuation, and weighted average capital cost to determine the minimum rate of return, and scenario and sensitivity analyses, simulation, and decision tree to assess investment risks.