ABSTRACT
Although the merger between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler has struggled over cross-cultural differences, it appears that the relationship is beginning to pay off. This merger highlighted the human resource management (HRM) challenges that can be a part of international mergers and acquisitions. Like many other executives who have lived through a merger, DaimlerChrysler executives now understand that it is not enough to manage the legal, financial, and operational elements of mergers and acquisitions. Maximizing the value of a deal requires that the human side of organizational change must also be managed well (Kay and Shelton, 2000). Nevertheless, managing the human side of IM&A activity appears to receive less of the top management’s attention than is necessary to ensure success (Child et al., 2001; Evans et al., 2002). According to David Kidd, a partner at Egon Zehnder International in Chicago,
Many mergers do not create the shareholder value expected of them. The combination
of cultural differences and an ill-conceived human resource integration strategy is one of
the most common reasons for that failure. Given the well-publicized war for talent, I am
constantly surprised by how little attention is paid to the matter of human capital during
mergers.
