lay in understanding the current capabilities of the supplier as well as key aspects of the product, market and ecosystem in which the company operated. The resulting report, titled “Incorporating Small Producers into Formal Retail Supply Chains,” was presented in 2016 at the U.S. State Department’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit, a gathering of the world’s foremost entrepreneurs. Additionally, a teaching case was generated from the report and published by WDI Publishing in 2017. “We don’t just need to encourage retailers to engage with small producers, we need to help these retailers execute more effectively,” London said. To that end, the researchers developed a set of guidelines and a checklist for companies seeking to include such enterprises in their supply chains. The work with Walmart is indicative of the projects undertaken by WDI’s Scaling Impact Initiative — researching and developing tools and strategies that help both the largest companies and smallest suppliers to reach scale. Scaling Impact Farmers trained by Walmart. Image courtesy of Walmart. 44 William Davidson Institute