End Market Analysis (EMA) Toolkit - April 2021 - Market Systems Study Guide

Sep 13, 2026

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End Market Analysis (EMA) Toolkit provides a standardized, high-quality approach for ACDI/VOCA to design and implement end market analyses within inclusive market systems work. The toolkit explains how an EMA assesses opportunities, entry barriers, production capability to meet quantity and quality demands, and existing or potential competitive advantages across sectors and value chains. It maps market segments, guides project prioritization, and supports partner decision-making on end marketing and upgrading strategies, with inclusion and resilience considerations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time7 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Purpose and scope of the toolkit

Box 1: Zambia EDGE VC prioritization index

Contents of This Kit

Research questions an EMA helps answer

Competitive advantages and market segment prioritization

End Market Analysis Toolkit April 2021 ACDI/VOCA’S inclusive market systems approach uses a variety of analytical tools and methodologies to provide a comprehensive picture of the market system. Our analyses helps us determine which value chains (among other systems) are most important to our project objectives as well how those systems operate. A key analysis we use in our suite of market systems analysis tools to help us answer these questions is our End Market Analysis (EMA) Toolkit. An EMA studies market opportunities, barriers to entry, production capability to meet market quantity and quality demands, and the system’s existing or potential competitive advantages. The primary objective of an EMA is to develop a high-level understanding of the market’s existing or potential competitive advantages, differentiating sectors and prioritizing market segments, and mapping how major market segments in each of the identified sectors work. The key outcomes of the EMA include starting to draw the boundaries of the market system that our projects will focus on, guiding project activities toward high potential sectors and market segments, helping advise partners on end marketing and upgrading strategies, and enabling for segment prioritization based on the private sector’s ability to compete in segments which offer value-added opportunities at scale, are less prone to risks, and offer inclusive potential for market actors. While assessing competitiveness is the focus of an EMA, resilience and inclusion are also fundamental to the EMA methodology and to the objectives of ACDI/VOCA’s inclusive market systems approach. However, given the specialized expertise required to adequately address resilience and inclusion topics in a sector or value chain (VC), additional studies are needed to fill information gaps on resilience and inclusion. ACDI/VOCA’s Zambia Enterprise Development and Growth Enhanced (EDGE) Activity, for example, followed a market systems approach to VC selection, relying on multiple analyses, including an EMA, to deliver the analytical inputs needed to carry out comprehensive indexing of VCs. The outcome was the informed selection of six competitive, resilient, and inclusive VCs. See Box 1 below for more detail on how the EDGE activity used the EMA and other studies to inform its project design. Introduction This toolkit provides the foundation for ACDI/VOCA to conduct standardized, high-quality EMAsin sectors around the world by providing staff with a guide and templates for planning, designing, and implementing an EMA. As a first step, staff should use the toolkit and templates to adapt the EMA to fit the needs and objectives of the unique ACDI/VOCA project undertaking the EMA. Box 1. Following a market systems approach to selecting the project’s target VCs, ACDI/VOCA’s Zambia EDGE Project developed a VC prioritization index to guide the selection of six high-potential VCs for the project to focus on. The index was used to assess 10 VCs across five criteria: potential for systemic change, competitiveness, inclusion, resilience, and enabling environment. Unique indicators and weights were assigned to each criterion in alignment with the priorities of the project (e.g., inclusion criteria received the highest overall weight of 30% due to its importance to the project). A comprehensive set of studies were designed to inform the projects start-up activities and provide the key data points, context, and scoring for the index’s 13 indicators. EMAs were carried out for all 10 VCs and provided indicator data for most of the competitiveness and systemic change indicators as well as a subset of the inclusion and enabling environment indicators. Additional studies were carried out concurrently, including Gender, Youth, and Social Inclusion (GYSI) analysis, environment and climate risk assessments, nutrition and food security assessment, and financial systems analysis, and provided the necessary inputs for certain inclu

FAQs

What is the primary objective of an End Market Analysis (EMA)?

To develop a high-level understanding of a market’s existing or potential competitive advantages, differentiate sectors, prioritize market segments, and map how major segments within identified sectors work.

What kinds of questions does the toolkit say an EMA helps answer?

It helps answer questions about relevant value chains, competitive advantages, best-positioned segments for competitive, inclusive, and resilient outcomes, and how the market system functions, including productive capabilities and focus areas for partner capacity building.

How does the Zambia EDGE Project example use an EMA?

It used multiple analyses, including EMAs for all target VCs, to supply indicator data for competitiveness and systemic change, plus subsets for inclusion and enabling environment indicators, which then fed a weighted prioritization index.

Sep 13, 2026

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