Between March and May of 2005, over eight-hundred maquiladoras in the six border states of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas were contacted (via email, fax, and/or phone) to solicit their participation in this first-ever Border Philanthropic Survey of the Maquiladora Industry.  In the end, 110 maquiladoras completely answered the survey questionnaire (another 23 completed partial surveys, although their responses were not included in this analysis).  As seen in the graph at right, maquiladoras that participated identified the origin or location of their parent company predominantly in either the United States or Mexico (approximately 87%).

In order to be somewhat representative of the maquiladora industry along the US-Mexico border, an attempt was made to weight the percentage of respondents from each state in proportion to the actual percentage of maquiladoras that each state has.  During this first year of surveying, it was noted that some trade organizations and companies tended to be more or less responsive – based in part on awareness of the study partners (i.e.: ICF, FESAC, CBA, etc.).  Ultimately, while there was some slight over-representation from Baja California, Coahuila and Tamaulipas firms, the total number of participants should allow for a high degree of confidence in applicability of the results to the border region as a whole.

To better reflect the situation of more-stable, ongoing operators within the maquiladora industry, the survey attempted to target firms with fifty or more employees.  As seen at right, more than 90% of survey participants were from such companies.  In fact, nearly two-thirds of respondents were from maquiladoras with 250 or more employees – suggesting that these survey results likely reflect larger companies and multinational firms that operate manufacturing facilities in the border region.

A final goal of the survey was to secure participation from a wide range of industries, albeit reflective of the types of firms operating in the border region.  As seen at left, this goal was also achieved, although certain sectors may be slightly under-represented.   The category of “Other” is probably over-represented, although each of these categories is somewhat subjective (and participants may fit into multiple categories).