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Mobility and social capital among Lebanese and Beninese entrepreneurs engaged in transnational trade

par Rosenfeld, Martin
Référence International review of sociology, 22, 2, page (211-228)
Publication Publié, 2012-08-15

Article révisé par les pairs

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Résumé :

This contribution focuses on importers of second-hand cars operating between Brussels, Belgium and Cotonou, Benin. Intensive multi-sited fieldwork reveals important differences in the way Lebanese and Beninese car importers operate in this import-export business and how they circulate between Europe and West Africa. This paper, through a comparative approach, describes and explains those differences. A first level of explanation is linked to the fact that car importers working in Cotonou come primarily from two different communities. On the one hand, Lebanese car importers operate inside a trade diaspora, never needing to travel because they are able to rely on other Lebanese to send them second-hand cars from Brussels and to collaborate at different levels of the trade chain. On the other hand, native Beninese car importers have the status of cross-border entrepreneurs working in a territory of movement. They must themselves travel to Europe to obtain their second-hand cars, thereby maintaining a double involvement in Europe and West Africa. A second level of explanation can be found in the evolution of the Euro-African second-hard car import-export business, a trade pioneered by Lebanese entrepreneurs. What began as a fragmented activity became formalised in business hubs, such as Brussels. This centralisation allowed the arrival of new types of car importers, like the Beninese, on the market. However, unlike the Lebanese, these newcomers could not rely on settlements of fellow-countrymen located in multiple business markets and had little level of trust between each other. To this day, they have failed to mobilise the capital necessary to work in the same conditions as the Lebanese. What distinguishes Lebanese and Beninese second-hand car importers? The analysis shows that it is their ability to recreate trust in a context of high uncertainty. This issue of trust has a direct impact on the way both types of importers organise their spatial mobility and operate their business activities.