After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, Walmart’s disaster relief was faster and more comprehensive in many areas than even the federal government’s. It inspired then-CEO Lee Scott to think what might be possible if Walmart used its size and capabilities to play a more positive global role. In a well- publicized speech, he set major goals for the world’s largest retailer, including selling products that sustain people and the planet. “We have impact and we need to understand what that impact is,” said Beth Keck, who was senior director for women’s economic empowerment at Walmart. “We should use our strength and size and scale for positive impact.” Walmart partnered with WDI’s Scaling Impact Initiative on two projects to enhance that impact. The first effort was initiated in 2015, when the retailer asked WDI to develop a teaching case on the 15-year relationship between Walmart and USAID, the U.S. government agency tasked with ending global poverty. Research was performed by WDI Senior Fellow Ted London and Research Manager Colm Fay, with assistance from a group of graduate students at U-M’s Ross School of Business and the Ford School of Public Policy. Their study focused on partnerships that sought to engage smallholder farmers in Honduras, Guatemala, Rwanda and Bangladesh. It explored the ways in which these collaborations came about, how they were supported by the partners and the level of success achieved as measured by Walmart, the Walmart Foundation and USAID. The case, “Walmart and USAID: The Evolution of a Global Cross-Sector Partnership,” also identified lessons learned for the future of the Walmart/ USAID collaboration as well as insights that could apply to public-private partnerships more broadly. “To my knowledge, it’s one of the few cases that traces the evolution over more than a decade of two enormously influential organizations,” London said. “Both shared their strengths and challenges, and that’s refreshing. It brings forth issues around organizations that have different value propositions.” The case was designed for use in graduate, undergraduate and executive education programs taught in university business schools. But Keck said it also holds value beyond the classroom. “It’s very helpful for self-examination,” she noted, “and can also be used in the development community by non-governmental organizations not used to working with businesses and by other global development organizations, including funders interested in leveraging partnerships.” A year after that case study was published, the retailer asked the Scaling Impact team to research and write a report detailing its efforts to bring smallholder farmers and female-owned artisan enterprises from developing countries into its retail infrastructure. “Walmart faced some real challenges in this arena,” explained Fay, “and they wanted to share the lessons they had learned with the broader community.” Fay, London and Linda Scott, Emeritus DP World Chair for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Oxford’s Saïd Business School, were tapped to tackle this assignment. The trio’s research revealed that success Walmart Scaling Impact 25th Anniversary 43