ABSTRACT
The concept of market segmentation, or strategy, was first articulated in a watershed article by Wendell Smith in 1956, and since its publication it has come to be one of the most influential concepts in marketing. Research and development (R&D) embraces a broad spectrum of activities that, in aggregate, constitute a very heterogeneous market for information services. The hypothetical laboratory was structured in terms of R&D activities or functions, that is, research, development, and engineering design, and by discipline within those units. Science is one activity in which the basic end product is information. The implications of market segmentation by R&D activity can be stated succinctly. Consider the organization with a laboratory, but no production facilities, that is, one in which the product is R&D itself. It is reasonable to expect that the latter, the R&D contract organization, is going to have a greater, continuing need for external scientific and technical information industry sources than the former.
