The involvement of a university as a stakeholder in the place branding process. Case:Jönköping Science City

Sammanfattning: Background: Strategic place branding has gained increased recognition lately, both scholarly and inpractice. Because of globalization, cities are today constantly competing with othercities all over the world. Therefore it is today important for a city to communicate animage that is distinguished from others. However, a city’s image is not communicatedby a single organization, but by a various number of stakeholders. A city consists ofmany different stakeholders, which can make it a complex process. Problem: Much of the existing research argues for the need to involve stakeholders in theprocess of branding cities. How to successfully do so is however still not clearlydefined. This is a complicated manner since every stakeholder is different and hasdifferent needs, priorities and perspectives. This means that stakeholders are also ableto contribute to a city and its brand in a unique way, which existing research lacks indefining. As of last year, Jönköping Municipality and Jönköping University officiallybecame partners in a project called Jönköping Science City. This is a strategiccollaboration between the two parties around a common future vision for Jönköping. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the involvement of JönköpingUniversity, as a stakeholder, looks like in the process of branding Jönköping city.Meaning that this study will analyze the collaboration and the effects that theuniversity has as a major stakeholder and as an educational center in the city. Method:  Primary and secondary data have been used in order to fulfill the purpose of thisthesis. A case study, in-depth interviews and existing literature have provided atheoretical and empirical base to for the analysis and conclusion. Conclusion: Jönköping University is a unique stakeholder and has had considerable contributionfor the city and its brand. By an established cooperation with the university, Jönköpingcity are in turn able to utilize the positive