Citation:

Adi Zamzam, Valid Hasyimi. "Sustainable HRM Strategy in Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions: Evidence from the Tega-Molycop Acquisition" International Research Journal of Economics and Management Studies, Vol. 5, No. 7, pp. 1-5, 2026. Crossref. http://doi.org/10.56472/25835238/IRJEMS-V5I7P101

Abstract:

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have become a dominant strategy for achieving organizational growth, market penetration, and product complementarity. Yet the sustainability of M&A value creation depends critically on how Human Resources Management (HRM) manages the people, cultural, and governance dimensions of post-merger integration, a dimension that remains underexplored in sustainable HRM literature, particularly in cross-border transactions involving organizations from emerging and developed markets. This research examines how a sustainable HRM strategy can be designed and implemented in the context of a cross-border M&A, using the US$1.5 billion acquisition of Molycop, the world's leading grinding media producer, by India-based Tega Industries as its empirical case. A qualitative methodology was employed, drawing on semi-structured interviews with two senior executives directly involved in the transaction, which were analyzed thematically and triangulated with an industry analysis. The findings reveal three principal insights: (1) the primary M&A motive is product complementarity enabling integrated mill optimization solutions yet creates a cultural integration challenge requiring the synthesis of two heritage-rich organizational; (2) the most effective HR strategy for sustainability operates through three sequenced mechanisms: Awareness, Appreciation, and Assimilation (the Three A's model) embedding sustainability progressively from cultural identity to reward architecture; and (3) HR's strategic role is activated through board-level governance access combined with a commercially grounded business case framing sustainability as a social license, talent, and cost-of-capital imperative. The research contributes a practitioner-derived, materially grounded framework for HR-led sustainability integration in cross-border M&A, with specific recommendations for ESG materiality-driven implementation sequencing and SDG-aligned performance architecture.

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Keywords:

Cross-Border, ESG Materiality, M&A Integration, Mining Sector, SDG, Sustainable HR.