| dc.description.abstract | The oil and gas industry has a significant role within the Norwegian state. Within Norway, the region of Rogaland has positioned itself as an important area for operation toward the Oil industry, becoming a main operational hub. The region is not linked just toward firms active in the extraction of petroleum, it also has built up competence and companies that provide technical solutions, harbour facilities and mechanical parts. These industries provide jobs for more than 200,000 people, making the sector a vital part of the region's economic prosperity and importance for the Norwegian state. Industry acting as suppliers toward the oil and gas is a significant part of the oil adventure contributing to the welfare of the Norwegian society.
Nevertheless, the rising focus toward sustainability as a central societal norm has created pressure toward the establishments embedded in the narrative of the regions oil adventure and the future of the supply industry. The positive view the oil and gas industry once had, have faded, and new "imaginaries" have emerged. According to Frank Geels and other authors within the field of transition, these structures of social life determine the pathway the transition takes toward a more sustainable society. Moreover, as Jasanoff and Kim emphasise, these changes set the agenda for how the scientific and technological landscape operate and become constructed, by providing an understanding that societal trends might not leave the supply industry unaffected.
By doing a qualitative case study toward Aarbakke, a company that produces advanced mechanical components toward the oil and gas sector. The study will research if macro-changes within the social value system influence the industry's perception of possible pathways strategies today. By conducting a series of interviews to evaluate to what extent social imaginaries acts as a catalyst that influences the decisions between a strategy toward environmental performance and a reconfiguration toward a sustainable supply industry in a transition toward a zero-emission society. | |
