ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the key international human resource management concerns when undertaking mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across borders. Mergers and acquisitions are a form of an inter-organizational encounter; thus they share, in part, features with other forms of inter-organizational encounters, including joint ventures, alliances or outsourcing arrangements (Borys & Jemison, 1989; Parmigiani & Rivera-Santos, 2011). The distinguishing feature of M&A transactions is that beyond mere strategic change they result in a change in ownership. It is this change of ownership that lies at the heart of many of the human resource-related concerns experienced in many M&As: indeed, for the employee, a change of ownership represents not only a change in employer, but a change in the psychological contract with one's employer as well.
