Introduction This assignment is a discussion on the topic of marketing. In the discussion, attention is given to the oligopoly industry and its key features. This will be illustrated using the oil industry which comprises firms which do the business of oil and gas. The discussion also looks at the concept of price fixing by exploring the detergent industry especially in Europe and the economic rationale behind not fining Henkel, one of the companies which were found guilty of price fixing by the commission in charge of competition. Discussion Oligopoly industry Oligopoly is a market structure which is characterised by few but big firms. The firms usually know each other very well and they are characterised by sharing the whole market in terms of percentages. For example, if there are four big firms in a certain field, each usually occupies a certain percentage of the whole market in terms of capital base and the number of customers (Vives, 2001). One characteristic of oligopoly is a cut throat competition. This means that the firms in an oligopoly industry usually compete for the customers but in very unique ways. Some of the ways in which firms compete is through what is referred to as differentiation and positioning. In marketing, differentiation is the process of distinguishing a product or service from the rest through describing its unique differences and or characteristics. It is done for competition purposes with a view of creating a market niche for that particular product or service. Differentiation seeks to create a good image about a particular product among the targeted consumers so as to ensure that they perceive it as unique and different from other similar products (Armstrong and Kotler, 2009). Product differentiation makes the targeted consumers not compare a particular product with others; which gives that particular product a competitive advantage over the others. In doing differentiation, marketers or product owners may rely on advertisement, promotions, improved product quality, lowering or increasing the prices as well as the lack of understanding on the part of the consumers regarding the price and quality of the product being differentiated (Armstrong and Kotler, 2009). A company may engage itself in differentiation of several products at the same time. This makes it have a definitive number of customers, who are sort of owned by it due to the uniqueness of its products or services. This is what is called positioning. Positing entails using various strategies like promotion, distribution of products or services and production of unique products with unique pricing to build an identity of a particular company or organization in the minds of particular consumers (Vashisht, 2005). Positioning seeks to stabilize and retain the positions of the particular differentiated products for a particular company so as to retain the competitive advantage of the company in regard to those products. For a company to create and maintain a particular position in a market, it needs to do a thorough research and consistent monitoring of market trends so as to modify or readjust the differentiation and positioning strategies for its respective products (Ferrell and Hartline, 2010). The firms also compete through increasing their efficiency, which entails the maximization of their resources and ensuring that they