The transition within business from a linear to a circular economy brings with it a range of practical challenges for companies. The following question is addressed: What are the product design and business model strategies for companies that want to move to a circular economy model? This paper develops a framework of strategies to guide designers and business strategists in the move from a linear to a circular economy. Building on Stahel, the terminology of slowing, closing, and narrowing resource loops is introduced. A list of product design strategies, business model strategies, and examples for key decision-makers in businesses is introduced, to facilitate the move to a circular economy. This framework also opens up a future research agenda for the circular economy.

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Most products require a redesign to be viable in a circular economy. For instance, by implementing design for disassembly, remanufacturing, recyclability, and using long-lived components. Typically, different solutions can be chosen to improve a products' circularity, and different strategies can be aimed at keeping the product, its components, and materials in the loop. When developing products for a circular economy, designers and manufacturers want to assess their solutions and choose between alternatives early in the design process. This paper describes the Circularity Calculator, a tool that has been developed to help designers assess the potential resource circularity and value capture of products in the first design stages. The tool provides quantitative indicators that help determine whether and which circular strategies are potentially viable for the company. This paper discusses the methodology behind the Circularity Calculator, which uses four KPIs that have been developed for assessment; a Circularity indicator, Value Capture indicator, Recycled Content indicator and a Reuse Index. We will explain how the dashboard interface is used to model a linear and circular product system which can be compared on its economic potential. The tool is illustrated with an example concerning the analysis of a household blender.