This dissertation is an exploration, development and application of a theory on the effects of managerial succession on organizational performance in the public sector. Public management is a field of study within public administration that is gaining momentum and is strengthening both its theoretical and empirical bases. In this dissertation I build upon the very small literature on managerial (or executive) succession to develop a theory of the effects of managerial succession on performance. I posit that in the short-term performance will decrease; however, over time organizations that have had a succession event will see an increase in performance. I employ the use of three unique datasets: Texas school district superintendents, British local education authorities, and Major League Baseball field managers. All datasets have particular strengths that allow for a more complete empirical analysis. What we find is that, while there appears to be no significant relationship between managerial succession and performance in the year following the succession event, there is a positive and significant event over time. Furthermore, in the British analysis, which is designed to test a similar organization to the Texas analysis yet in a vastly different organizational structure, we find no significant relationship between performance and succession.

Las empresas familiares son un fenómeno mundial de gran trascendencia por el elevado número de ellas, no obstante se ven agobiadas por el problema de la transición generacional que, en muchas ocaciones, marca el inicio del fin de la empresa familiar. El derecho peruano ha desatendido hasta ahora el presente tema; sin embargo, en otros países se aprecia la atención que se le ofrece desde la perspectiva jurídica, por ejemplo a través del protocolo familiar, un instrumento contractual que favorece a la gestión de las empresas familiares. / The family enterprises are a world phenomenon of great transcendency for the hight number of them, nevertheless they meet overwhelmed by the problem of the generational transition that, in many occasions, it marks the beginning of the end of the family enterprise