Constructing Brand Equity through Public-Private Development Partnerships: Stakeholder Interpretations of Volvo's Participation in the ZAMITA Project

Sammanfattning

This thesis explores how local stakeholders interpret and assign meaning to Volvo Group’sparticipation in the ZAMITA Public-Private Development Partnership (PPDP) in Zambia, and howthese interpretations shape organizational brand equity. Drawing on stakeholder-based brand equity,symbolic-interpretive organization theory, legitimacy theory, and stakeholder theory, the studyconceptualizes brand equity as a socially constructed outcome emerging through stakeholderinteraction and interpretation. The study applies a qualitative research design based on semi-structuredinterviews, supported by participant observations, and document analysis, conducted during six-weekfieldwork in Ndola, Zambia. Empirical data was collected from students, trainers, and organizationalstakeholders connected to the ZAMITA project and analyzed through thematic analysis. The findingsshow that brand equity within PPDP contexts emerges primarily through experiential interaction,legitimacy evaluation, and stakeholder meaning-making rather than traditional marketingcommunication. Stakeholders actively construct meanings around Volvo through practical workshops,branded equipment, and training initiatives, while trainers function as important intermediaries inreproducing organizational meanings and values. The thesis contributes to stakeholder-based brandequity literature by extending it into the context of PPDPs in emerging markets and highlighting therole of legitimacy, contextual relevance and experiential interaction in shaping organizationalperceptions