Why 'sticky information' is the key concept for the AI era, revisited
curious_vii · x · 2026-10-17
The author urges readers to revisit MIT Sloan professor Eric von Hippel's 1994 Management Science paper on "sticky information," arguing it's the most important concept you've never heard of — with implications for business models, IT architecture, and talent profiles in an era of ubiquitous AI.
The paper's core findings: information needed for problem-solving is often costly to acquire, transfer, and use. When sticky information sits at one site, problem-solving happens there; with multiple sticky loci, solving iterates among them; when iteration is costly, problems get task-partitioned or investments are made to reduce stickiness.
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