Market niches and the pharmaceutical industry Three men were asked to race in a desert to win a first prize. Of the three men, the two strongest and fastest begin running frantically across the desert in hopes of beating the other. The third man remained calm and watched the race for a moment, then began walking in the opposite direction with a smile on his face. A running judge stopped the man walking in the opposite direction and asked him: “Where are you going? The race is over there, towards the east." The man turned and pointed to the other two men running as they disappeared over the horizon, and then replied to the judge, "I'm running my race west and it looks like I'm already winning." Companies don't have to be the biggest, strongest, or richest to compete in an economy, sometimes they simply need to recreate the competition. Companies that target small markets and strive to become leaders in those markets are known as market-nichers. Central bases where market niches can exist rely on a business or company to fill a void that can meet consumer needs. Nicher's three tasks are creating niches, expanding niches, and protecting niches. There are several main routes to take when creating market niches. In the twelfth edition of Marketing Management, authors Philip Kotler and Kevin Keller list several common types of niches, two of which are the end-user specialist and the product feature specialist. According to authors Kotler and Keller, the end-user specialist is a company “specializing in serving one type of end customer.” An end customer, simply put, is the customer who will ultimately receive the product for its intended purpose. For example, the customer who buys chocolate bars from a candy bar manufacturer is usually not the end customer. Usually a store buys chocolate bars from a candy bar manufacturer. The store has no plans to use the candy bar for its intended purpose. The consumer who buys the chocolate bar to eat is the end customer. End-use specialists sell products intended only for certain consumers. Product feature specialists focus on the production of a product. Authors Philip Kotler and Kevin Keller say that product feature specialists are companies that specialize “in producing a certain type of product or feature.” Usually these types of companies or companies try to create something new where there is little or no competition.