The eight-band $kcdot p$ formalism been successfully applied to compute the electronic properties of a wide range of semiconductor nanostructures in the past and can be considered the backbone of modern semiconductor heterostructure modelling. However, emerging novel material systems and heterostructure fabrication techniques raise questions that cannot be answered using this well-established formalism, due to its intrinsic limitations. The present article reviews recent studies on the calculation of electronic properties of semiconductor nanostructures using a generalized multiband $kcdot p$ approach that allows both the application of the eight-band model as well as more sophisticated approaches for novel material systems and heterostructures.