The Evolution of the Business Model Canvas for Digital Sustainability

With the rise of digitalization, traditional business models (BMs) are evolving to incorporate digital technologies. Innovations like the Internet of Things, platforms, and virtual reality are reshaping the business landscape, prompting organizations to integrate digitalization while addressing sustainability. The business model canvas (BMC) has become integral to modern business practices, offering a structured framework for conceptualizing, analyzing, and innovating BMs. Our systematic review of literature on sustainable BMCs and digital BMCs identifies 14 sustainable BMCs and ten digital BMCs, each integrating traditional BMC elements while introducing new components to meet sustainability or digital technology demands. We synthesize insights to develop a novel framework: the sustainable and digital BMC, comprising 18 elements essential for fostering sustainability and leveraging digital technologies in BMs. Additions such as ecosystem, co-creation, and capabilities underscore the importance of collaborative value creation. The differentiation of the value proposition dimension into economic, social, and environmental values aligns business objectives with sustainable development principles. Considerations of social and environmental impacts in the value capture dimension highlight the complexities of digital transformation. The extension of the value delivery dimension to include platform, supply chain, and potential competition reflects the evolving dynamics of digital business ecosystems and competitive landscapes. Our study emphasizes the significance of integrating sustainability and digitalization in contemporary business model innovation efforts, underscoring the need for further research to explore emerging challenges and opportunities in the digital era.