Companies are currently changing their traditional role in society and transforming it into a proactive role in which their operations generate social and environmental positive impacts. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has evolved from simple philanthropy to a more theoretical concept with a new corporate philosophy that takes all the interests of all stakeholders into consideration. The financial market is pushing the development of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI), which has led to the rise of Corporate Sustainability Systems (CSS). These CSSs are tools that rate corporate performance on sustainability. However, they constitute a chaotic universe, with instruments of different nature. This paper identifies and groups the common characteristics of the CSSs into three different typologies: Indexes, Rankings and Ratings. Despite this classification, and although the fundamental pillar of CSR is the “Stakeholder Theory”, CSSs are still not ideal tools to be used by all stakeholders. From the magma of CSSs, this article identifies and describes, through a comparative analysis, those which best comply with the “Stakeholder Theory”. This paper facilitates the work of researchers and stakeholders by exposing the differential characteristics of the most important CSSs.

Digital Product Passports (DPP) have emerged as a key policy instrument within the European Union’s transition towards digitalization and sustainability, with the aim of improving traceability, transparency, and sustainable practices across product value chains; however, empirical evidence on how Digital Product Passports are implemented within organizations remains limited. This study examines the early implementation of DPP through a qualitative single case study of a European manufacturing company operating in Original Equipment Manufacturers value chains, drawing on semi-structured interviews that were thematically analyzed to explore how organizational actors understand and engage with the DPP initiative. Rather than presenting definitive implementation outcomes, the analysis offers insight into the organizational and governance conditions shaping early implementation efforts, pointing to the role of existing product and compliance data while also drawing attention to organizational fragmentation and the absence of a coherent data governance framework as key challenges. Overall, the study contributes empirical evidence to the emerging literature on DPP by highlighting the organizational demands and governance issues associated with early implementation and by clarifying the conditions under which Digital DPP may be perceived either as a regulatory burden or as a potential enabler of sustainability-related practices in industrial contexts.

The Digital Product Passport (DPP) has emerged as a key instrument within the European Union’s circular economy and digitalisation agenda, aiming to improve product traceability, transparency, and information exchange across value chains. While research has primarily focused on its technical and regulatory dimensions, empirical evidence on how different actors use and value product-related data in operational decision-making remains limited. Addressing this gap, this study analyses the information needs, perceptions, and data governance challenges associated with the DPP in the electrical and electronic equipment value chain in Spain. Adopting a multi-actor perspective, the research draws on twenty-five semi-structured interviews with manufacturers, refurbishers, repairers, after-sales service providers, users, and recyclers, complemented by a survey evaluating identified data points according to their importance, availability, and sensitivity. The findings reveal that stakeholders prioritise actionable operational data, particularly repair manuals, spare-parts availability, maintenance history, and material composition, over broader transparency-oriented information. The results also identify significant asymmetries in data access and control between upstream and downstream actors, alongside governance challenges related to confidentiality, interoperability, and organisational capabilities. Furthermore, the study shows that DPP effectiveness depends less on the quantity of available data than on its alignment with specific decision-making contexts throughout the product lifecycle. The paper contributes by extending previous empirical research to a new geographical and sectoral context and by conceptualising the DPP not only as a data infrastructure, but also as a mechanism that reconfigures relationships, responsibilities, and informational power within circular value chains.