Advertising, concentration and profitability in Iran Industries: Seemingly Unrelated Regression Approach

This paper focuses on the relationship among structure, conduct, and performance (SCP) for a sample of 141 four-digit industries during 1999-2005 in Iran. For this purpose seemingly unrelated regression estimation (SURE) method is used to estimate the parameters of the models for profitability (the ratio of profit to sale), concentration (the inverse of the number of firms in industry), and advertising. Results show that profitability is determined by advertising, which in turn, is affected by profitability. In addition, there are positive relationships among advertising, research and development expenditure, concentration, growth rate of industries’ sale, ratio of investment to sale, and profitability.