http://www.integrity-research.com/cms/2009/08/03/alternative-research-reasons-for-optimism/

Market Driven Business Model

One of the historic problems with sell-side equity research is that it is bundled with a wide variety of non-research services, including execution, capital commitment, sales support, management access, IPO allocations, prime brokerage, etc. making it extremely difficult to ascertain what clients are really paying for. Consequently, many sell-side research departments have never really understood what clients find valuable in their research products.