Abstract:
“Competitiveness” receives much attention nowadays, but up to now its assessment has been heavily based on manufacturing industry statistics. This paper addresses the need for competitiveness indicators that cover the service sector and sets out a two-tiered framework for measuring services sector competitiveness. The primary changes in the national and international competitiveness of three major service sub-sectors in Romania – transport, travel, and other services - are analyzed. The approach undertaken here aims at measuring the competitive position of the selected service sectors, at analyzing their evolution based on a methodology similar to the one followed in studies that tackle the industrial sector (which allow for the evaluation of the world insertion of a certain country) and, given a certain world demand, at determining a country’s position either as a supplier or a consumer of those services. Finally, through an empirical analysis, the factors explaining the competitive position adopted by Romania in the three selected service sectors are examined.