Reconfiguring competitiveness on the European e-tradable services market

European economies are undergoing dramatic changes, determined by the rise in knowledge-intensity of economic activities, as an effect of the escalating pace of technological change, on one hand, and by the increasing globalization of economic affairs, driven by markets liberalization, on the other hand, having as consequence the emergence and development of a new type of economy, knowledge-based. This paper aims at evaluating the positioning of Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), and especially that of Romania, in the transformation process of their economic structure and organization towards a knowledge-based economy. In order to determine the specific characteristics of these countries, that could contribute to successfully developing a knowledge-based economy, we will focus our analysis on exploring the potential for offshoring e-tradable services, especially among developed countries, old EU members (EU 15) and CEE developing countries, new Member States of the EU. Therefore, we aim at demonstrating that CEE countries, including Romania, have become part of this emerging global division of labor driven by fragmentation of production, through identifying the options available to these countries for participating in the exploding international trade in e-tradable services.