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Product cover image for The Bay: A Third Space for Misfits

The Bay: A Third Space for Misfits

Robert Mackalski, Andrew A. Hanna, Rob Simon, Ava Hollingsworth, Marc Ducusin

Product #:W45611
Supplier:Ivey
Discipline:Entrepreneurship, General Management
Setting:Brazil, Canada, Saudi Arabia, United States, 2025
Details:Case (PDF) • 13 pages • 2025-10-27

Subjects:

LeadershipBusiness expansionLeadership and managing peopleManagement

Industries:

Education institutions

Geography:

BrazilCanadaSaudi ArabiaUnited StatesSouth AmericaNorth America
Your Price:$9.71

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The Bay was a unique non-profit organization based in Lincoln, Nebraska, that provided a welcoming third space community for kids who did not fit in, affectionately known as misfits. The Bay grew to include a hang out, skate park, music venue, and art gallery, and it partnered with the public school system to offer diplomas and gap year education. By 2025, having successfully served Lincoln youth for over a decade, the charismatic founder, Mike Smith, and his team sought to expand. But the organization was grappling with what markets to expand into and what approach should be used for expansion.

Learning Objectives

The case focuses on the challenges and opportunities of growth in an organization involved in social entrepreneurship. It explores the expansion or growth of a non-traditional high school and gap year program for marginalized youth. The case is suitable for a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses including strategic management, marketing principles, social entrepreneurship, non-profit management, and service marketing. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:


  • Define the concept of the third space.
  • Evaluate the factors affecting and impeding the growth of an entrepreneurial non-profit.
  • Understand the tensions between a charismatic, growth-focused founder and a board managing an ongoing organization.
  • Understand the opportunities and challenges to scale a social entrepreneurial organization.
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Case Study: The Bay: A Third Space for Misfits (English version) | Ivey Publishing