Abstract
This study examines the entrepreneurial strategies of African-American and Latino owner-operators in the container hauling sector of the Los Angeles trucking industry. The research proceeded in two stages. In the first, I estimated the ethnic representation of owner-operators and found Latinos to be significantly more represented than other groups. In the second, a snowball sample was used to identify 54 respondents who were interviewed regarding their business behavior and attitudes. The data were analyzed using traditional descriptive statistics as well as multidimensional scaling techniques. The analysis revealed several differences between African-Americans, non-immigrant Latinos, and immigrant Latinos. They differed in the ways they used social networks and co-ethnic support systems. There were more partnerships than expected among African-Americans and more loans and free labor from non-kin co-ethnics for Latinos. Also a higher proportion of immigrants than expected was found among Latinos. The findings of this study lend support to reactive cultural theories and labor market segmentation theories. African-Americans depended heavily on nuclear family partnerships. Both groups were heavily dependent on Latino immigrant labor in the informal sector for employees. A macro analysis suggests that the organization of labor in the harbor is evolving to create greater flexibility in an emerging NIDL (new international division of labor). This study concludes that immigrants out number non-immigrants because they are more flexible about rates and working conditions and not because of a greater tendency to network.