Even though the traction towards a circular economy (CE) is on the rise, and the benefits a CE has across ecological, economic, and social frontiers have been undeniable, still, CE-related developments and its adoption have not been appealing. This study conducts a systematic literature review of the CE-related literature in line with the ‘umbrella framework’ to find the current state of the diffusion and diversification of CE concepts both in the academic context as well as in application. Using a thematic and content analysis of the sampled literature, the study (i) develops a comprehensive and inclusive CE definition and (ii) examines the level of diffusion of CE in the economy. The study concludes that, even though CE-related developments are positive and promising, it is still in the validity phase of the umbrella framework and recommends focusing more on the application-based intervention of the CE.

Ideation is the base for creativity which supports novelty. Innovation could be an original idea of an innovator or an imitation favored by the sharing of cross-industry resources. Creativity has become imperative to individuals as well as to organizations. After conducting a literature review, this study has put forth a generic creative problem-solving (CPS) model with real-world corporate examples. The paper has listed the factors that could block creativity and described CPS tools and techniques that support ideation and creativity. Additionally, it has critically analyzed the innovator's DNA (Dyer, Gregersen, & Christensen, 2009) which purports the five basic skills needed to be creative: associating, questioning, observing, experimenting, and networking, and further has examined the controlling factors of innovation equation (Bahcall, 2019) which has emphasized the organizational structural variables like equity fraction(E), fitness ratio (F), management span(S) and salary growth (G) as the parameters for promoting the transition of ideas into the innovation.