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Figure 1From “The thirty-percent rule for sales and marketing”

The measured investment share of SG&A by industry

Comparison of standard BEA-HH assumptions versus empirical market-based exit parameters across major industries.

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Figure 1The measured investment share of SG&A by industry

A grouped bar chart comparing standard assumptions with market-based exit estimates across six industry groups. SG&A standard is 30 percent in every group, while SG&A exit ranges from 20 to 51 percent. R&D standard ranges from 17 to 28 percent, while R&D exit ranges from 33 to 50 percent. Standard errors and sample notes remain in the source record.SG&A standardSG&A exitR&D standardR&D exit0%10%20%30%40%50%60%All industriesConsumerManufacturingHigh techHealthcareOther servicesIndustry sectorInvestment or depreciation share (%)

Source: Data from Ewens, Peters & Wang (2019, revised October 2023), NBER Working Paper No. 25960, Table 1 (p. 47).

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  • A EPW24-C5 R&D depreciation is estimated, not assumed, and it moves with R&D intensity: "we find a significantly higher depreciation rate for the two industries with the highest R&D intensity: healthcare (33% vs 17%) and high-tech (42% vs 28%)"Ewens, Peters & Wang (2019, revised 2023), Table 1
  • A EPW24-C6 The SG&A share is the number the 30% rule stands on, and the paper states both the estimate and its spread: "we find that our 28% estimate of the fraction of SG&A representing invested capital is similar to that used in earlier work (30%)", while "this ratio varies dramatically across industries, from 20% (consumer) to" 51% (healthcare)Ewens, Peters & Wang (2019, revised 2023), Table 1 and section 1

Grades: A, verified against the printed page of the primary source · B, primary source, text layer only · C, authoritative secondary · D, reported.

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APA 7

Isoglu, S. (2026). The measured investment share of SG&A by industry [Figure]. isoglu.com. https://isoglu.com/insights/exhibits/isoglu-2026-the-thirty-percent-rule-for-sales-and-marketing-fig01/

BibTeX
@misc{isoglu-2026-the-thirty-percent-rule-for-sales-and-marketing-fig01,
  author = {Isoglu, Sinan},
  title = {{The measured investment share of SG\&A by industry}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Figure 1, isoglu.com},
  url = {https://isoglu.com/insights/exhibits/isoglu-2026-the-thirty-percent-rule-for-sales-and-marketing-fig01/},
  note = {From the essay {The thirty-percent rule for sales and marketing}}
}
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  <figcaption>Figure 1: The measured investment share of SG&amp;A by industry. Source: Data from Ewens, Peters &amp; Wang (2019, revised October 2023), NBER Working Paper No. 25960, Table 1 (p. 47). <a href="https://isoglu.com/insights/exhibits/isoglu-2026-the-thirty-percent-rule-for-sales-and-marketing-fig01/">View exhibit</a>.</figcaption>
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