Urban black adaptation and successful entrepreneurship in chicago: An extended case study of a black-owned and operated construction industry

Ethnic-based entrepreneurship as a mechanism for socioeconomic mobility has not been sufficiently explored in the study of black people in urban United States. This study focusses on urban black entrepreneurs in Chicago to understand mobility strategies entrepreneurial blacks have used to achieve some socioeconomic success in a racially segregated city. To succeed in their entrepreneurial drive, black entrepreneurs have made use of their bicultural knowledge to form networks within and outside their own ethnic group. Through socialization blacks as a marginal group learn that their survival and success depend largely on their ability to use the resources of the black community and those of the dominant society concurrently. Within the black enclave these entrepreneurs made use of kin-based networks to achieve internal mobility. They deployed the resources they accumulated within the enclave in the pursuit of resources across ethnic boundaries. By manipulating kins, friends, classmates and colleagues, some entrepreneurial blacks are able to overcome environmental and situational constraints to emerge successful in their entrepreneurial endeavors. To collect data, the autobiographical technique was found to be the most valuable and effective tool. Data derived from some case studies of black entrepreneurs demonstrate how some blacks consciously and sometimes unconsciously involved themselves in different matrices of ego-centred networks to exploit the resources of their society. This study finds that by manipulating people and social capital some black entrepreneurs achieved a measure of success for themselves, their families, and the community.