近幾年來，台灣努力追隨先進國家的腳步，欲走向服務型經濟；只是，即便政府近幾年間扮演領頭羊的角色，但現有統計數據似乎仍顯示，台灣服務業的整體發展成效未如預期。本文嘗試從更寬廣的角度出發，從服務業的組成結構、對經濟成長的貢獻及國際化程度與競爭力等三個面向，檢視台灣服務業在總體與產業兩個層面上的情況。檢視發現，現階段台灣服務業發展呈現低實質成長、低勞動生產力與低國際競爭力的情況，導致服務業雖為台灣經濟發展主力，但卻無法相對帶動經濟發展之結果。因此，本文建議以「服務業國際化發展」取代服務外銷做為短中期的主要策略思維，並建議參考世界貿易組織所提出的服務貿易四模式，針對不同服務業進行不同的應用手法，藉此與台灣相關優勢產業結合、進行創新，以期發展多元、異業整合之服務契機；本文亦對政府在建構服務業發展相關的基礎環境議題上提出建議。

For years, the Taiwanese government has devoted itself to transforming Taiwan into a “service economy, ” following the development process of developed countries. In fact, the Taiwanese government indeed plays a leading role and contributes a lot in this manner. However, recent statistics seems to suggest that the performance of the Taiwanese service industries is still far from expectation. To respond to this unsatisfied situation, this paper investigates the challenges for the development of service industries from a broader perspective.We examine the data through three dimensions: the composition of the service industries, the capabilities of the service industries contributing to economic growth, and the internationalization and competitiveness of the service industries. To ensure the analysis is objective and unbiased, each dimension is reviewed through macro and industrial levels. The finding reveals three main reasons that make Taiwanese service industries unable to play their designated roles: the real growth rate of service industries in terms of GDP is far below that of manufacturing industries; the labor productivity of service industries remains unimproved; and service industries are less competitiveness in service trade. Based on the above findings, this paper suggests that the Taiwanese government should regard internationalization of service industries, rather than the development of service trade, as the key strategy for service industry development in the short-to-mid term. In terms of planning, the government may apply the concepts of the four modes of service trade fromWTO, with consideration of key features of service sectors, thus shaping feasible practices.Moreover, the government should lever-age the strengths of Taiwanese industries, thus leading to more innovation and creating multiple routes for new services development that are cross-sectional.