Niche-regime negotiations in transition-oriented programs: aiming for net-zero in a petrochemical firm

• Presents a firm-centric perspective on transitions towards net-zero • Uses the multi-level perspective to analyze negotiations • Clarifies the relationship between internal and external negotiations in a program • Distinguishes project types that contribute to transitions in different ways • Underlines that transition-oriented programs comprise niche-regime negotiations • Highlights the significance of temporal dynamics across different project types in a transition-oriented program This paper combines literature on program management and the multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions to analyze how a firm within the petrochemical industry negotiates across niches and regimes in its transition-oriented program. The analysis shows that this strategic change program comprises three types of projects—exploitation, exploration, and hybrid. In the context of the firms’ ambition to attain net-zero emissions, individual projects of all three types play distinctive roles. In exploitation projects, negotiations stay at the regime level, which reinforces existing institutions but also enables a transfer of certain emission-reducing technologies. In contrast, exploration and hybrid projects entail negotiations that cut across niche and regime levels. For hybrid projects, we find that niche-regime negotiations remain predominantly internal, while they are externalized in exploration projects. Clarifying the relationship between internal and external negotiations, our work suggests that strategic project sequencing could facilitate transition-oriented programs. Run in sequence, exploration projects may help mobilize external support and resources, hybrid projects can safeguard internal support, and exploitation projects can enable companywide diffusion of practices that support the net-zero objectives.