Entrepreneurial innovation, co-opetition, and information technology convergence: Support for small and medium enterprise retail tourism

In the ever-expanding commuter town of Buffalo, Minnesota a business phenomena was born -- occasional sale retail stores. Rose Darden combined the finesse of a boutique, prices of a wholesaler, variety of a garage sale and voila, the birth of the occasional sale store. The small commuter town was discovered and became a destination for retail tourism and hosts hundreds of shoppers every month. A sample of these retail tourism businesses provided ethnographic information about their subculture as well as established an example for this research paper. Observations from this study will benefit entrepreneurial, small, and medium enterprise marketing, and informational technology research. Theories drawn from for this SME exploration include the characteristics of entrepreneurs, the overlap of entrepreneur and marketing characteristics, SMEs versus Large Enterprises, retail tourism, networking theory, word-of-mouth advertising, co-opetition theory and information technology issues. Qualitative and ethnographic research methods provided crucial customized educational and interactive tools that enhance the awareness of the business phenomenon in the state of Minnesota and create stronger relationships between entrepreneurs, clientele, and communities. Co-opetition theory is new research area and relatively unexplored in the literature. It is introduced as a potential business strategy for the occasional sale retail stores. This concept applied to informational technology and occasional sale retail stores theoretically provides an opportunity that may serve to boost the overall awareness of the occasional sale retail stores.