Designing Business Models through Sustainable and Digital Innovation

We live in a time shaped by deep uncertainty, rapid technological advances, and growing ecological and social crises. These global challenges are forcing organizations to rethink their fundamental assumptions about strategy, operations, and the value they create. Sustainability today is not simply a constraint or compliance issue – it is an innovation process that redefines how companies conceive their value proposition, organize supply chains, engage stakeholders, and govern transformation.
This book places business models at the center of that redefinition, framing Business Model Innovation (BMI) as a critical lever to align economic performance with social and environmental value creation. Bridging academic rigor and practical relevance, this volume offers an integrated perspective on sustainability, innovation management, and digital transformation. It presents stateof- the-art theories alongside empirical evidence, translating them into usable frameworks and tools. Readers will explore models such as the Business Model Canvas (BMC) and Triple Layered Business Model Canvas (TLBMC), engagé with circular economy innovation tools, and examine real-world case studies of companies navigating sustainable and digital change. A special focus is placed on the twin transition – the convergence of digitalization and sustainability – and how emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, IoT, and digital platforms support new forms of sustainable value creation. The book unpacks the technological, organizational, cognitive, and policy challenges involved.
Written accessibly, this book targets students, researchers, managers, entrepreneurs, and policymakers working to understand and shape a new generation of business models that meet the demands of a turbulent world – models that are sustainable, digitally enabled, and built for meaningful impact.

Daniele Binci is an Assistant Professor of Marketing and Management at Niccolò Cusano University, Rome. His research and teaching interests include innovation management, digital transformation, and sustainability.

Natalia Marzia Gusmerotti is an Associate Professor of Sustainability Management at the Department of Management and Law, Faculty of Economics, University of Rome Tor Vergata. Her research focuses on the intersection of innovation and sustainability, building on over twenty years of experience in the field.

Corrado Cerruti is a Full Professor of Management at the Department of Management and Law at the School of Economics of the University of Rome Tor Vergata. His primary research areas include procurement and supply chain management, digital transformation, and innovation.