Business Model–Driven Digital Transformation: Cross-Functional Collaboration, Technological Enablement, and Organizational Change in Contemporary Enterprises

Abstract

Digital transformation has emerged as one of the most consequential organizational phenomena of the twenty-first century, reshaping how firms create value, compete, and sustain long-term performance. Rather than being a purely technological shift, digital transformation represents a profound reconfiguration of business models, organizational structures, inter-functional relationships, and strategic decision-making processes. Drawing strictly on established literature, this article develops a comprehensive, theory-driven analysis of how business models influence digital transformation outcomes, with particular emphasis on cross-functional collaboration, technological infrastructures such as artificial intelligence, cloud security, continuous integration and deployment pipelines, and emerging coordination mechanisms including blockchain-enabled supply chains. Building on seminal work in business model theory, strategic management, digital strategy, organizational economics, and information economics, the study synthesizes insights across disciplines to explain why digital transformation succeeds in some organizations while failing in others. The article adopts a qualitative, conceptual methodology grounded in extensive theoretical elaboration, enabling a deep exploration of causal mechanisms rather than surface-level description. Findings suggest that digital transformation is most effective when business models act as integrative frameworks aligning strategy, technology, and organizational coordination. Cross-functional collaboration emerges as a central mediating factor, enabling firms to overcome information asymmetries, coordination costs, and structural rigidities historically identified in economic and organizational theory. The discussion highlights key limitations of existing approaches, including overreliance on technology-centric narratives and insufficient attention to institutional and behavioral constraints. The article concludes by outlining future research directions that bridge business model innovation, digital infrastructure governance, and collaborative organizational design, offering implications for scholars and practitioners navigating complex digital ecosystems.