Analysis of the International Competitiveness and Influencing Factors of China’s Service Trade

Purpose - In world trade, the development of the service trade has been extremely rapid, and its development is even faster than that of the goods trade. In order to have a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of the development status of China’s service trade, the article mainly analyzes the status quo of China’s service trade. By analyzing the status quo of China’s service trade’s international competitiveness, it finds problems in the development of China’s service trade, and proposes ideas to improve China’s service trade with measures of international competitiveness. Design/Methodology/Approach - The article first analyzes the status quo of China’s service trade development from a macro perspective, and then analyzes the level of China’s service trade international competitiveness from three aspects: international market share, trade competitive advantage index, and explicit comparative advantage index. At the same time, based on Porter’s “Diamond Model”, the article selects production factors, demand factors, support from related industries, and government factors as auxiliary factors for research on China’s service trade. Taking the trade competitiveness index as the dependent variable, the amount of employment in the tertiary industry, per capita GDP, the export value of the goods trade, foreign direct investment, and scientific and technological expenditures are used as independent variables to establish a model. This model is used to conduct quantitative analysis. Findings - The article found that the overall competitiveness of China’s service trade is relatively weak, with serious deficits and uneven structural development. Through quantitative analysis, it is understood that the international competitiveness of China’s service trade is negatively correlated with the amount of employment in the tertiary industry and GDP per capita, and is positively correlated with foreign direct investment, China’s trade exports, and science and technology expenditures. Research Implications - Affected by the pandemic, the structure of the global service trade has undergone great changes, bringing new opportunities to the development of the global service trade. By analyzing the status quo and problems of the international competitiveness of China’s service trade, relevant suggestions are put forward to better promote the development of China’s service trade and improve the international competitiveness of China’s service trade.