I don't see the insight here. There is no new "reputation economy".<p>If his customers aren't as concerned about the security of their data as he is, that can be explained by the different way they value the damage to their reputations from a security breach. Presumably most of his customers sell something other than security so the damage to their reputation will be less than if their whole business was selling security.<p>If your business is painting cars, you'd expect that you'd be a lot more focused on paint quality than a dealership that sends you a few cars to paint.
reputation effects are a foundational aspect of a healthy free-market. this isn't some sort of new economy, it's just that the tech market exemplifies the free-market better than others because it moves too quickly for regulators (so far).