Abstract
While the circular economy (CE) attracts attention from scholars and practitioners,the concept has been challenged by claims that the CE may be seen as a vague con-cept, or a new label for old green management practices. We propose a new approachto study the effects of the CE on company performance: circular product design(CPD). Consequently, this work investigates how Industry 4.0 technologies and stake-holder pressure influence CPD and, in turn, impact on company performance. Datawere obtained from firms which develop products in the electric–electronic andequipment (EEE) sectors in Brazil. Our research results indicate that (i) the applicationof Industry 4.0 technologies favors CPD, in particular artificial intelligence and bigdata analytics; (ii) pressure from stakeholders can encourage the adoption of circularstrategies, specially from suppliers because they are responsible for developing anddelivering smart components; and (iii) although the literature may be seen as contro-versial, there is a positive relationship with regard to the impacts of CE adoption onmarket performance. Among its main implications, the article also suggests a set ofdesign strategies oriented towards the development of products for the CE.