The document compares blue ocean strategy, which focuses on creating new markets, to five forces strategy, which focuses on dominating existing markets. The author conducted a study on the Dutch retailing industry over 19 years to test which approach leads to better long-term performance. The study found that in over half of retail shop types, average firm profits and the number of competing firms increased together, indicating blue ocean strategy can be sustainable. It also found blue ocean innovation leads to higher profits for about 15 years before competitive forces erode those profits. Therefore, the author concludes businesses may benefit most from blending blue ocean and five forces strategies.