Markt und Strategie. Die Marktstudie von ZB MED und ihre Ergebnisse

Abstract

[english] In order to guarantee a future-oriented positioning of ZB MED it is indispensable to have an exact knowledge of the market and the target groups so that the product portfolio can be aligned to the needs of the customers. For this reason, a large-scale external market study was realized to get reliable facts as a basis for the strategic and operative development of ZB MED. This article describes the methodology of the market study and presents the important results for ZB MED. At first, markets and target groups were identified and quantified with the help of secondary data. On this basis, the empirical investigation was designed. Parts of that were explorative interviews as preparative task, an online survey and subsequent focus group interviews. Finally, the results were analyzed with the aid of a gap analysis to identify needs for action. The main focus of this article is the presentation of the methodological approach and of specific results of the survey. These refer to the relevant market segments: management of information, publication services and networking. The market study presented here is the basis for the development of new services and the adaption of existing ones. It is the groundwork for the continuous development of the ZB MED strategy describing the scope of action till 2020.

Keywords

• ZB MED – Leibniz Information Centre for Life Sciences
• market study
• GAP analysis
• results
• recommendation