Laying the foundation: Value capture in collaborative, digitally-enabled business models for sustainability

Abstract

Firms increasingly adopt digital technologies to generate environmental benefits. To maximize the impact of these technologies, they must be embedded in business models that allow the partners involved to capture economic value by collaboratively generating environmental benefits. This study examines nine cases within a European agri-food project using different value capture models to deploy digital technologies with the goal to make farming practices environmentally sustainable. We analyze and compare these cases to identify the different value capture models, the factors leading to their choice, and which implications the choice of the initial value capture model has for the potential to add more participants to the business model. Based on our findings, we develop a typology of value capture models for digitally-enabled business models for sustainability and discuss the link between value capture models and impact scaling. Our findings advance research on digitally-enabled business models for sustainability and inform practitioners of the implications tied to the choice of different value capture models.