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“Past performance is not a guide to future performance” might just be the most frequently quoted mantra in the world of investment. Most investors will have subconsciously digested it countless times while scanning their annual updates, visiting websites, agreeing to terms or leafing through brochures announcing the launch of this fund or that product.

And yet how many of them actually believe it? The question might sound frivolous, but in truth it is of enormous importance.

Dr Xiao Gang Bi, of Nottingham University Business School in Ningbo, China, and the Nottingham School of Economics’ Globalisation and Economic Policy Centre, explains why this is an issue that is well worth addressing as part of the wider and increasingly crucial debate concerning the role of consumer rationality.

The effectiveness of partnership agreements within the NHS can tell us a lot about what “works” in industrial relations. It might also tell us a little about the wisdom or otherwise of some of the choices made during the past decade by the UK’s national health services.

In the wake of political devolution the NHS in England increased its reliance on a market-based approach. By contrast, as part of a strategy to engage staff in improving services, the NHS in Scotland set about developing partnership agreements at board and national level.

Dr Peter Samuel, co-author of a major Nottingham University Business School report into NHS Scotland, explains why the success of the approach that has been favoured north of the border casts doubt on the wisdom of the path being taken in England.

A major report into the NHS in Scotland has cast doubt on the wisdom of its English counterpart’s continued and controversial pursuit of market-based reforms.

The two-year study, carried out by Nottingham University Business School, reveals how a “mature and positive” approach to industrial relations has helped underpin NHS Scotland’s “commitment to high-quality patient care”.

By contrast, the NHS in England has recently faced heavy criticism from the Care Quality Commission, the Health Service Ombudsman and the Patients Association.