Never just say that something "didn't work". Say exactly what happened (in this case, give the error message) and explain why it is not you want.
In your case 2012 and 2013 cannot possibly be Stata variable names, as no Stata variable name can start with a number. If 2012 were an allowed variable name, how could Stata possibly tell whether 2012 meant itself or the variable with the same name? (Perhaps 2012 and 2013 are variable labels, but reshape does not work with variable labels.)
In any case, reshape should not be fed variable names. It needs stubs, as is documented in the help.
We can't see your variable names. Suppose you have v2012 and v2013.
clear
input str3 Company str4 Item v2012 v2013
ABD TA 100 110
ABD EBIT 200 220
JKL TA 115 120
JKL EBIT 250 270
end
reshape long v , i(Company Item) j(Year)
list
+-----------------------------+
| Company Item Year v |
|-----------------------------|
1. | ABD EBIT 2012 200 |
2. | ABD EBIT 2013 220 |
3. | ABD TA 2012 100 |
4. | ABD TA 2013 110 |
|-----------------------------|
5. | JKL EBIT 2012 250 |
6. | JKL EBIT 2013 270 |
7. | JKL TA 2012 115 |
8. | JKL TA 2013 120 |
+-----------------------------+
reshape wide v, i(Company Year) j(Item) string
renpfix v
list
+-----------------------------+
| Company Year EBIT TA |
|-----------------------------|
1. | ABD 2012 200 100 |
2. | ABD 2013 220 110 |
3. | JKL 2012 250 115 |
4. | JKL 2013 270 120 |
+-----------------------------+
Note further twists to your problem. i(Company) would not have worked any way, as there are multiple observations for each identifier. You need two calls to reshape as a long is needed to get different years as observations and a wide is needed to get different items as variables.
The frequent need for a double reshape is documented in this FAQ: a search reshape in Stata would have pointed you towards it.
Evidently your syntax will differ if your variable names differ. As also documented in the FAQ just cited, you may need to rename your variables before a reshape is possible.
NB: As edited, the program is called Stata and has been for almost its entire history of 30 years. Any source telling you otherwise is not authoritative.
