Professor Christine Moorman on why keeping marketing secrets may cost more than letting them go

Companies spend billions safeguarding their marketing secrets—from customer insights to pricing algorithms—assuming these secrets are key to competitive advantage. The global data loss prevention market is valued at an estimated $1.5 to $2 billion annually and continues to grow. But does locking down knowledge undermine performance rather than protect it?

In this episode of Duke Fuqua Insights, Professor Christine Moorman of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, a leading scholar of marketing strategy and the director of The CMO Survey, examines whether protecting marketing knowledge is worth the cost.

Drawing from in-depth interviews with senior executives across industries, Moorman and her co-authors explore how firms manage three types of marketing knowledge: customer and competitor insights, marketing plans, and marketing know-how, such as pricing algorithms. Their research challenges the conventional wisdom that tighter control always leads to stronger advantage.

The research found that efforts to prevent knowledge leakage often generate significant costs, while the external benefits may be overstated. Firms frequently rely on “leakage prevention strategies” that restrict who can access or share information. But Moorman finds these controls can create a set of “hidden costs” that can undermine decision quality, slow execution, and even weaken morale. Protection can also unintentionally block learning as well as leaks. “If you put up all of these barriers, those same barriers are going to also prevent information from coming to you,” she said. 

On the benefit side, Moorman points out that these benefits may be overestimated. The reason is that even when information escapes, competitors must first notice it, interpret it correctly, and have the resources to act on it before any real harm occurs. 

Moorman suggests that instead of obsessing over preventing leaks, companies should first weigh a careful assessment of these costs and benefits. Companies should also consider alternative knowledge protection strategies that do not have these costs. These include investing in harm prevention strategies, like refreshing their marketing knowledge faster than competitors can use it, and out-executing rivals even when information escapes. Competitive advantage may depend less on secrecy and more on speed.

Duke Fuqua Insights features digestible conversations with our faculty about the most impactful research from their careers, including studies they teach in Fuqua classes. New episodes every other week in season.

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