ABSTRACT
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) continue to be a key component of companies’ growth strategies. This chapter addresses talent management in the M&A environment by providing a synopsis and integration of existing academic, theoretical, and practitioner literature. It begins by addressing the importance of talent management to general firm and M&A success. Since the initial research on the topic, a scarcity of empirical studies has been conducted to date about the interaction between the M&A process and talent management practices. The chapter focuses on three key components of talent management in the M&A setting, prevalent across the literature on the topic: talent retention; talent engagement; and talent staffing, selection, and deselection. It then addresses talent management in cross-border M&A. Finally, the chapter concludes by proposing areas of future research, along with fundamental questions that can help shape future research agendas.
