st: How do I define this data as a panel?

["Shahzad, Muhammad" <alishahzad@ou.edu>]

Hello,

My data has the following "shape":

Country           Year     Company         Industry        Variables
Country1        2000    CompanyA        IndX            V1      V2      VN
Country1        2000    CompanyB        IndY            V1      V2      VN
Country1        2001    CompanyA        IndX            V1      V2      VN
...
Country1        2006    CompanyD        IndZ            V1      V2      VN
.
Country2        2000    CompanyB        IndY            V1      V2      VN
..
Country2        2006    CompanyJ        IndX            V1      V2      VN
...
CountryN        2006    CompanyN        IndN            V1      V2      VN


When I try to define it as a panel using country and year as the panel and time variables respectively, I get the error message " repeated time values in sample". Obviously the combination of country and year is not uniquely defining each observation. What should I do in this case to define this data as a panel in order to utilize the --xt-- family of commands?

Your help and suggestions are appreciated.

Regards

Ali Shahzad
alishahzad@ou.edu

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