There are skeptics in any field – base of the pyramid business is no different. Over the years, however, the nature of BOP skepticism has changed. At first, many questioned whether low-income, emerging markets really mattered to businesses' bottom lines and growth strategies. While there are those who still argue that BOP markets are best left to development agencies and charity, the general feeling is that business has a role to play in these markets. Instead, skeptics now ask: if business has a role to play, where are they? According to base of the pyramid champions, there are massive, untapped markets out there – so why haven't there been associated investments geared towards tapping the opportunity?

There's no simple answer. Business opportunities don’t materialize overnight; firms need time to establish relationships, map out strategy, and pilot new models – especially in the unfamiliar territory of developing economies. Still, many critics rightly point out that 4 years have passed since Prahalad and Hart introduced the bottom of the pyramid hypothesis. In a business world fixated on quarterly earnings reports, 4 years is a lifetime. Show me the money, they say.

I'll take the liberty of answering – by showing them Wal-Mart's money. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer is not shy about its expansion plans. Recent articles in the New York Times, BusinessWeek, and the Associated Press detail Wal-Mart's ambitious moves into the Mexican and Indian consumer markets. No, they're not just trying to sell more stuff, although that's an obvious goal. Rather, Wal-Mart is looking to compete against entrenched domestic businesses that aren't fulfilling local demand.

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Update: Today's Wall Street Journal covers the story, noting that only 3 percent of India's retail market is taken up by chain stores - therefore giving the Walmart-Bharti deal an almost unlimited ceiling for expansion.

NB's Chapel Hill NC correspondent, Jacob Kramer-Duffield, has sent an interesting job posting our way.  Jake, a former sometime WRI staffer, and now a PhD student at UNC's School of Information and Library Science, keeps close tabs on the goings-on at Google.  Google.org, the company's hybrid NGO/for-profit philanthropy/investment facility, is seeking candidates for their Global Poverty & Sustainable Development programs.  As Google describes it, the new team will work "to innovate, establish and support sustainable models for global development" using "market-based, entrepreneurial approaches that promote sustainable economic growth and empowerment."  It is a "poverty alleviation strategy" combined with an active "portfolio of grants and investments."  Hmmm...