Dr Peter Wells - Associate Member of BRASS

Career Experience and Qualifications

Peter Wells has a degree in Geography from Leeds University, and an MSc in Town Planning from Cardiff University, while his PhD (also from Cardiff University) was on the subject of the socio-economic consequences of military R&D in the UK. He joined the Centre for Automotive Industry Research at its inception in 1990 and has since specialised on economic, strategic and environmental aspects of the world automotive industry. He is particularly interested in small scale, decentralised economic organisation as a means to achieve sustainable consumption and production.

He is also involved in delivering webinars on the following platform: www.awpresenter.com

Research Areas of Interest

Automotive industry; sustainable business models; celebrities, wealth and sustainability; alternative local economies; mobility; government transport and environment policy; corporate strategy; transitions to sustainability.

Research Projects

Peter is currently working innovative business models that combine new technology with new organisational and market concepts in the automotive industry. He is also involved with research into alternative business models in general, with particular reference to small scale and to emerging economies. He has recently started looking at the concept of ‘green celebrity’ within social discourse.

• Sugar Cane: The process in pictures
• Sustainable Mobility
• Sustainable Clusters? An exploration of the sustainability of cluster initiatives in Wales and the Netherlands
• Alternative Fuels
• Alternative Business Models in Transport and Infrastructure
• CO2 from Transport and contribution to Climate Change
• Environmental Rating Systems
• Environmental Regulation 
• Hydrogen Economy
• Sustainable Consumption of Automobility

Publications

Wells, P. and Beynon, M. (2012) Corruption, automobility cultures and road traffic deaths: the perfect storm in rapidly motorizing countries? Environment and Planning A, Accepted.

Harper, G. and Wells, P. (2012) Diverse regional sustainability strategies: template for the future or squandered resources? International Journal of Automotive Technology Management, Accepted.

Wells, P. and Faro, T. (2011) Eco-efficiency, self-sufficiency, and sustainability in transport: the limits for Brazilian sugarcane ethanol policy, Natural Resources Forum, 35(1), 21-30.

Wells, P. (2010) The automotive industry in an era of eco-austerity: building cars as if the planet mattered, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Wells, P. (2010) Sustainability and diversity in the global automotive industry, International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 10(2/3), 305-320.

Wells, P. (2010) The Tata Nano, the global ‘value’ segment, and the implications for the traditional automotive industry regions, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 3(3), 443-457.

Wells, P. and Heming, E. (2009) Green celebrity: oxymoron, fashion, or pioneering sustainability? International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 4(1), 61-73.

Wells, P.; Bristow, G.; Nieuwenhuis, P. and Christensen, T. B. (2009) The role of academia in Regional Sustainability Initiatives: Wales, Journal of Cleaner Production, 17, 1116-1122.

Wells, P. (2008) Alternative business models for a sustainable automotive industry, Chapter 5 pp 80-98, in Tukker, A. et al. (eds) System Innovation for Sustainability 1: perspectives on radical changes to sustainable consumption and production, Sheffield: Greenprint.

Hurth, V. and Wells, P. (2008) Averting catastrophic climate change: confronting wealth, International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2(1), 63-78.

Beynon, M. and Wells, P. (2008) The lean improvement of chemical emissions of motor vehicles based on based on preference ranking: A PROMETHEE uncertainty analysis, OMEGA, 36, 384-394.

Bristow, G. and Wells, P. (2008) Embedding eco-industrialism into local economies: the search for sustainable business and policy paradigms, Progress in Industrial Ecology, 4(3/4), 205-218.

Wells, P. (2007) The Green Junta: Or, is democracy sustainable? International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, 6(2), 208-220.

Orsato, R.; Wassenove, L. and Wells, P. (2008) Eco-entrepreneurship: TH!NK’s bumpy ride, CASE study. INSEAD Business School, France.

Wells, P. (2007) Sustainable thinking in management education, Journal of Management and Entrepreneurship, 1(2), 47-62.

Nieuwenhuis, P. and Wells, P. (2007) The all-steel body as the cornerstone to the foundations of the mass production car industry, Industrial and Corporate Change, 16(2), 183-211.

Orsato, R. and Wells, P. (2007) The automobile and sustainability, Journal of Cleaner Production, 15(11/12), 989-993.

Orsato, R. and Wells, P. (2007) U-turn: the rise and demise of the automobile industry, Journal of Cleaner Production, 15(11/12), 994-1006.

Wells, P. (2007) 4x4 cars and the city: What are the limits of vehicle manufacturer responsibility? Chapter 14 pp187-194 in Gunning, J. and Holm, S. (eds) Ethics, Law and Society Volume III, Aldershot: Ashgate.

Nieuwenhuis, P.; Vergragt, Ph. and Wells, P. (eds) (2007) The business of sustainable mobility, London: Greenleaf Publishing.

Wells, P. (2006) Re-writing the ecological metaphor: part 1, Progress in Industrial Ecology, 3(1/2), 114-128.

Wells, P. (2007) Deaths and injuries from car accidents: an intractable problem? Journal of Cleaner Production, 15 (11-12), 1116-1121.

Wells, P. and Nieuwenhuis, P. (2006) Business models for relocalisation to deliver sustainability, Greener Management International: Special Issue: Technological change and regulation in the car industry, 47, 89-98.

Wells, P. and Orsato, R. (2005) Product, process and structure: redesigning the industrial ecology of the automobile, The Journal of Industrial Ecology, 9(3), 1-16.

Teaching Commitments

 Peter has recently started teaching on the MSc Transport course in Cardiff Business School, offering (together with Dr Paul Nieuwenhuis) a course on Sustainable Transport and Alternative Business Models. In addition, he makes contributions to the modular MBA (optional module on Motor Industry Management) and a DBA offered in the School of Journalism (optional module on Automotive Industry Journalism). Peter often is asked to present short courses and one-off lectures for academic and business audiences.

Peter also supervises PhD students, and post-graduate students involved in dissertations.