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The social inclusion of youth is addressed from the perspective of goal-directed action in order to understand and foster it effectively. Conceptualized from the perspective of contextual action theory (CAT), the specific understanding of action as levels, perspectives and systems provides the basis to unpack the complexity of human action. One pertinent action system is identified as project. It refers to a series of actions over time with the same goal. Using this understanding, the social inclusion of youth is described though the joint actions and projects between youth and non-familial adults. These joint actions and projects include advocating for youth, providing instrumental knowledge and encouraging community involvement and civil engagement. CAT is also used to conceptualize and conduct research on the social inclusion of youth. Specifically, the action project method was used to describe the joint projects of both youth with disability and immigrant youth as these projects involved the youth’s social inclusion.

Soon Ang (Ph.D., Minnesota) is the distinguished Goh Tjoei Kok chair professor in strategy, management, and organization at the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She has published in Academy of Management Journal, Information Systems Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Management Science, MIS Quarterly, Organization Science, Social Forces, and others. She has co-authored two books on cultural intelligence published by Stanford University Press. Her research focuses on cultural intelligence, global leadership development, foreign talent management, and outsourcing (E-mail: asang@ntu.edu.sg).

Struggling economies provide an interesting venue for international management researchers to build and test theory. Struggling economies are characterized by conflict and confrontation between established forces trying to impose conformity and emerging forces seeking variety. Economies once healthy, but in sustained recession, are also fertile sites for exploring the conflict between problem-solving based on traditionally, but no longer, successful strategies and new solutions brought in from outside. Struggling economies also present opportunities for examining the interaction between people and structures, where established relationships are open to question. This volume explores change in one struggling economy – Japan. In doing so, it seeks to draw from the experience of Japanese companies in extending international management theory beyond the boundaries of that one country.