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Consumer Affairs Departments in the United States and the Netherlands: A Comparative Analysis

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Abstract

Over a decade ago Hansen and Schoenheit (1986), in their Journal of Consumer Policy article, concluded that Consumer Affairs Departments (CADs) offer potential for improving organisational performance in the market place and that their transferability to the European context would be warranted. In this article we trace and analyse the development of Consumer Affairs Departments in the United States and the Netherlands on the basis of fourteen case studies. On the basis of a comparative analysis we conjecture that the application of information technology, the application of communication technology, and personnel management style could be considered as major determinants of differences with regard to CADs in the aforementioned countries. We conclude the article with a number of building blocks that organisations may use in preparing their CADs for the decade to come.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Maastrichtg University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Ko de Ruyter & Hans Kasper

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  1. Ko de Ruyter
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  2. Hans Kasper
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de Ruyter, K., Kasper, H. Consumer Affairs Departments in the United States and the Netherlands: A Comparative Analysis. Journal of Consumer Policy 20, 325–352 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006850824521

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