LLD 100WB

Career Research Report

For this report, you will research and analyze the companies (one per student) that you may want to target in your future job searches, and you will determine which company (one, both, or neither) fits your requirements.

The research paper (first and final draft) should follow the guidelines for an analytical report. The first draft will only be the 4 paragraphs of SWOT on your company. If there are 2 students in the group, your first draft will contain 8 SWOT paragraphs, and if there are three students in the group, your first draft will contain 12 SWOT paragraphs.

Because most of the information that will be presented in the report will be from secondary sources, you must follow the APA guidelines for in-text citations, and references, as well as the use of headings.

Report Sections:

1. Cover Page
2. Table of contents
3. **Introduction – Present the reason why the report is being written, the nature of the opportunity you are facing, the scope of your research, sources of materials, and what conclusion you reached (direct approach). This is a brief statement about which company you preferred as your number 1 choice of an employer. (There are several possible conclusions you might draw – you prefer 1 of the companies over another, or both companies are appealing to you, or neither company meets your requirements.) You will also forecast what you will be writing about in the rest of your paper.

1. **Company Evaluations – In this section, you will present your evidence. You will report for each company the following:

• Company Background and HistorySWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, threats) Each part has to have its own paragraph with proper in-text citations.

1. **Conclusion –Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of each company and give your final reasons for choosing one company over the other.
2. **Next Steps – What will be your next steps in following up on this report as you begin planning for your career? What do you need to do to be ready to begin your job search and choose a company?

Reference page – following APA guidelines 7th edition (without the annotated bibliography synopsis)

Important Note:

• The Word count required for this assignment must be met. (see course syllabus)
• The research paper must be proofread and edited.
• The paper must sound as if one person wrote it, not multiple people.
• Report length alone will not necessarily result in a high or low score. Your in-depth research, details, and findings provided for your audience, along with the correct citation will factor in your grade.

Marketline and Hoovers must be cited in the in-text citation as (Marketline, Year) and (Hoover’s, Year). However, when citing them in the references, they must be cited as ProQuest and EBSCOhost

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Career Research Report
PricewaterhouseCoopers and ServiceNow
Student name
Linguistics & Language Development, San Jose State University
Online LLD 100WB-81: Writing Workshop for Business Students
Professor Mahsa. M. Modirzadeh
Date
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Table of Contents
Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
ServiceNow ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3
Company Background and History ………………………………………………………………………………… 3
Strengths …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 4
Weaknesses ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
Opportunities ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
Threats ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
PricewaterhouseCoopers ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 6
Company Background and History ………………………………………………………………………………… 6
Strengths …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 7
Weaknesses ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7
Opportunities ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
Threats ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8
Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 9
Next Steps ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9
References ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 11
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Career Research Report
PricewaterhouseCoopers and ServiceNow
Introduction
As the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic rages on through 2020, our society is forced to adapt
quickly to this new normal. As a 3rd year Finance major at San Jose State University, I must keep
a tight focus on not just my education, but also my career. I identified two companies that are
actively offering internships that are a good fit for my career goals: PricewaterhouseCoopers and
ServiceNow. The purpose of this report is to explore both the advantages and disadvantages of
each company and identify which company is a better fit for me. I use a mix of company
research profiles, company websites, and online articles to help me conduct a SWOT analysis of
each company. Through my research, I determined that ServiceNow is a better fit for me because
it offers strong growth opportunities, more innovative products, and most importantly, dominant
industry leadership.
ServiceNow
Company Background and History
ServiceNow is a platform as a service (PaaS) company centered around its cloud based
Now Platform. The Now Platform began as an IT management software that evolved into a
powerful workflow automation platform (D&B Hoovers, 2020b). The Now Platform finds
applications in all parts of an organization including HR, Customer Service and Legal (D&B
Hoovers, 2020b). Despite the challenges associated with COVID-19, ServiceNow continues to
play a key role in accelerating their customer’s digital transformation (ServiceNow, 2020).
According to D&B Hoovers (2020b) ServiceNow was founded in 2003 by Fred Luddy and its
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growth was slow at first. The first few years were dedicated to developing the Now Platform and
the company barely survived off seed funding. ServiceNow won its first major contract with
Juniper Networks in 2009 and raised 41.36 million through venture funding in 2009 (D&B
Hoovers, 2020b). Although its growth was steady afterwards, the company took off from 2014 to
2018 with annual revenue growth averaging 40% (D&B Hoovers, 2020b). Today, ServiceNow
stands as the leader of the IT Service Management industry (Business Wire, 2020).
Strengths
ServiceNow’s strength lies in its industry dominant IT Service Management platform, the
Now Platform. It has often been called best in its class, highlighted not just by a 24% year-overyear revenue growth but a jaw dropping 98% renewal rate for its services (ServiceNow, 2020).
According to Business Wire (2020) ServiceNow’s currently holds more than 50% market share
in the IT Service Management and has been named an industry leader for the 7th consecutive
year in 2020. In addition, ServiceNow’s has partnered with various Fortune 500 companies and
has over 1,200 accounts with an annual revenue of one million or more (MarketLine, 2020b).
This solid foundation of clientele paired with a 98% renewal rate guarantee stable revenues for
years and years to come.
Weaknesses
ServiceNow’s industry leading software also comes at a heavy cost. According to
Beatson Smith (2019), a Senior IT Sourcing and Negotiation Analyst at UpperEdge,
ServiceNow’s platform often costs 1.5-2 times the cost of its closest competitors, BMC and
Salesforce. Although ServiceNow’s Now Platform provides advanced features like workflow
automation, its price can often drive away mid-size customers. Small and medium sized
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businesses looking for a simple, easy to use IT Service Management software will turn to
ServiceNow’s competitors, who offer lower cost alternatives. If they can, ServiceNow should
seek to provide a lower cost alternative to their Now Platform to reach small and midsized
companies.
Opportunities
The Coronavirus pandemic has created a huge opportunity for ServiceNow because of a
new need for digitalized workspaces. The Now Platform has evolved from an IT service
management platform to a powerful workflow automation tool that assist companies with digital
transformation (ServiceNow, 2020). According to ServiceNow (2020) its embedded AI tools
help companies scale, automate, reduce complexity, and enable its employees to work anywhere,
anytime. Keep in mind, ServiceNow’s revenues come mainly from direct sales to US Fortune
500 companies (MarketLine, 2020b). Fortune 500 companies are looking to digitize their work
to increase efficiency and stay competitive. For example, Larry Dignan (2020), editor-in-chief at
ZDNet, explains that a new partnership between Accenture and ServiceNow shows how
ServiceNow’s Now Platform is so transformative that Accenture is now dependent on it for its IT
consultancy services. Because ServiceNow’s products and services fit in any large company or
organization, there is a huge opportunity for further domestic and international expansion,
especially during the pandemic.
Threats
As mentioned before, ServiceNow’s platform often costs 1.5-2 times more than its closest
competitors (Smith, 2019). Customers are willing to pay this premium because of ServiceNow’s
track record for innovation and seamless implementation. However, this high cost also presents a
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threat. Recently, a business reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune, Brittany Meiling (2020),
reported that two Ex-ServiceNow employees have launched a new startup that offers similar
services to ServiceNow’s core technology. This new startup and many others pose threats
because they take away from ServiceNow’s competitive advantage. If other companies can offer
the same innovative tools that ServiceNow has, then ServiceNow can no longer charge its
premium prices. Furthermore, if a competitor offers an innovative platform more capable than
the Now Platform, ServiceNow may lose its dominant position in the market. Therefore, outside
competition will continually pose a risk to ServiceNow will force ServiceNow to innovate
relentlessly to stay ahead of its competition.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Company Background and History
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is a professional services firm that provides a wide
variety of services including tax, audit, risk assurance, compliance, reporting, and consulting
services (MarketLine, 2020a). According to MarketLine (2020a) PwC is the largest auditing firm
in the world and leads the Big 4 (PwC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young and KPMG) in terms of global
revenue. The firm was founded back in 1849 by Samuel Lowell Price in London (MarketLine,
2020a). The firm is still headquartered in London today, but the firm currently operates in over
150 countries (MarketLine, 2020a). PwC currently has 79 offices in the United States and two in
the Bay Area located in San Francisco and San Jose (MarketLine, 2020a). It is easy to see that
PwC’s network and influence spans across the globe. PwC has provided professional services for
85% of the Fortune Global 500 including Bank of America, AIG, Chase, Goldman Sachs, and
IBM to name a few (MarketLine, 2020a).
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Strengths
PwC’s strengths lie in its dominant position in the market of professional services. According to
D&B Hoovers (2020a) PwC’s global revenues have grown 20% in since 2014 and leads the Big
4 in terms of revenue and market share. In addition, PwC has built up a massive portfolio of
professional services that allows PwC to offer services to any company. From mining and
manufacturing to banking and telecommunications, PwC’s portfolio of professional services can
meet any company’s needs (MarketLine, 2020a). For example, PwC was one of the first firms to
develop a contract tracing solution and help its client in New York reopen during the pandemic
(Singer & Creswell, 2020). PwC’s robust, well-educated workforce allow the firm to quickly
provide new services when the market demands it. With such vast resources and experience,
PwC capable of making any company or organization its customer. Thus, PwC has positioned
itself as a leader in the professional services industry.
Weaknesses
One of PwC’s greatest strengths is also one of its greatest weaknesses. Working with
large, multinational corporations require PwC to take on huge risks. PwC’s financial services,
such as tax and audit, have a huge impact on companies. For example, in October 2020, PwC
was hit by a $40 million lawsuit from a Botswana supermarket chain when PwC had failed to
sign off on the supermarket chain’s accounts (Prinsloo, 2020). In addition, PwC had to pay three
billion dollars in settlements to one of its clients MF Global, which collapsed due to an alleged
error in PwC’s financial audits (MarketLine, 2020a). These lawsuits have not only hurt PwC’s
global reputation but also negativity impacted its profitability. It is hard for a professional
services firm like PwC to predict and hedge these risks and is a weakness of this industry. PwC
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needs to do a better job of avoiding lawsuits or else it will continue to hurt its bottom line and its
reputation.
Opportunities
As many accounting majors will be familiar with, the United States SEC requires public
US companies to file using GAAP. However, GAAP is not used widely outside the US. Instead
many countries such as the member countries of the European Union, South Korea, Brazil, India,
and Hong Kong all report using the International Financial Reporting Standards or IRFS
(MarketLine, 2020a). According to MarketLine (2020a), there has been an increased number of
countries adopting IRFS to make their companies more attractive to foreign investors. This is an
opportunity for PwC because this new standard will drive demand for PwC’s tax and audit line
of professional services.
Threats
PwC might just be too big to fail, many law makers believe that PwC might just be too
big. Williams-Grut (2019), Yahoo’s senior UK finance correspondent, reported that the members
of UK’s parliament have called for the full breakup of the big four accounting firms. This new
crackdown by the UK government is in response to the string of high-profile auditory failures by
the Big 4 (Williams-Grut, 2019). These failures have caused a huge hit to the reputation of the
Big 4 and have garnered much public attention. If the UK or any other government decides to
regulate and breakup the Big 4 accounting firms, it will pose a huge risk to PwC’s growth and
expansion. In addition to regulators, PwC’s competitors also a large threat. Because the
professional services space is so competitive, PwC will not likely stay on top forever. With such
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fierce competition among the Big 4 accounting firms, PwC must continue to innovate and market
aggressively to maintain its position as a leader in the industry.
Conclusion
Although ServiceNow and PwC both seem like great places to work, I believe
ServiceNow is a better fit for me. Both, ServiceNow and PwC are leaders in their industries and
are experiencing consistent growth. However, ServiceNow is experiencing much more explosive
growth in comparison to PwC. In addition, ServiceNow’s business is centered around innovation
while PwC’s is centered around providing services to other businesses. ServiceNow has an
advantage because I prefer to be working towards the goals of the organization instead of
working towards the goals of my clients. Although PwC has a long, rich history, the company is
not very exciting in terms of innovation. Tax, audit, and consulting are not new and follow strict
guidelines while ServiceNow and its Now Platform are cutting edge technologies that continue
to evolve every day. A company that is innovative will make me more excited about going to
work every day. Finally, ServiceNow also provides more growth options. Getting promoted in
public accounting is a strict and rigid process, common knowledge among public accountants.
Competition among firms is fierce and PwC is required to keep salaries and promotions at a
minimum to stay competitive. However, ServiceNow is a dominant player in the industry of IT
service management. Its blistering fast growth makes way for not just long-term job stability but
various options for growth within the company.
Next Steps
My next step in my career is to find more companies, research them, and apply to
positions that fit me well. Although I prefer to work at ServiceNow, there is no guarantee that I
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receive an offer from ServiceNow or even PwC. It is important to continually apply and
interview with companies to become not just better at interviewing but also learn more about
companies themselves. Many companies may seem like a great place to work, but aspects such
as company culture cannot be revealed through online research. It is important to speak with
employees from a potential employer to gauge a proper fit. I am not at the point in my career
where I can easily choose where I want to work. Therefore, it is important to keep trying my best
and stay hungry and humble.
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References
Business Wire. (2020, October). ServiceNow Named a Leader in the 2020 Gartner Magic
Quadrant for IT Service Management Tools for Seventh Consecutive Year.
Businesswire.Com. Retrieved October 23, 2020, from https://www.businesswire.com/ne
ws/home/20201009005451/en/ServiceNow-Named-a-Leader-in-the-2020-GartnerMagic-Quadrant-for-IT-Service-Management-Tools-for-Seventh-Consecutive-Year
D&B Hoovers. (2020a, September). PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Profile. Fort Mill: Mergent.
Retrieved October 23, 2020, from Business Market Research Collection
D&B Hoovers. (2020b, September). ServiceNow, Inc. Profile. Fort Mill: Mergent. Retrieved
October 23, 2020, from Business Market Research Collection
Dignan, L. (2020, October). Accenture, ServiceNow form group focused on digital
transformation, workflows. ZDNet. Retrieved October 23, 2020, from
https://www.zdnet.com/article/accenture-servicenow-form-group-focused-on-digitaltransformation-workflows/
MarketLine. (2020a, February). PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd [Company profile].
Retrieved October 23, 2020, from Business Source Complete database.
MarketLine. (2020b, August). ServiceNow Inc [Company profile]. Retrieved October 23, 2020,
from Business Source Complete database.
Meiling, Brittany. (2020, October). Ex-ServiceNow employees launch tech startup SerenityEHS,
funded by former executives. The San Diego Union-Tribune, Retrieved October 23,
2020, from https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2020-10-08/ex-
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servicenow-employees-launch-tech-startup-serenityehs-funded-by-formerexecutives#:~:text=Two
%20former%20employees%20of%20the,new%2C%20pandemic%2Drelated%20busines
s.&text=Among%20its%20investors%20are%20two,president%20of%20product%20line
%20sales.
Prinsloo, L. (2020, October). PwC Hit by $40 Million Lawsuit From Botswana Supermarket
Chain. Bloomberg.Com, Retrieved October 23, 2020, from
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020 -10-13/pwc-hit-by-40-million-lawsuitfrom-botswana-supermarket-chain
ServiceNow. (2020, October). Q3 2020 ServiceNow Earnings Conference Call. ServiceNow.
Retrieved November 8, 2020, from
https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&referrer=
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.servicenow.com%2F&eventid=2625181&sessionid=1&key=2E
DD61CDBF24CB6EFA12EEA3458C583D®Tag=&sourcepage=register
Singer, N., & Creswell, J. (2020, June). A Multibillion-Dollar Opportunity: Virus-Proofing the
New Office. The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2020, from https://www.ny
times.com/ 2020/06/22/business/virus-office-workplace-return.html.
Smith, B. (2019, October). Lifting the veil on ServiceNow pricing. UpperEdge. Retrieved
November 8, 2020, from https://upperedge.com/servicenow/lifting-the-veil-onservicenow-pricing/
Williams-Grut, O. (2019, April). MPs call for ‘full’ break up of ‘Big Four’ auditor ‘cash-cows’
after failures like Carillion. Yahoo Finance. Retrieved November 8, 2020, from
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https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/mps-call-full-break-big-four-auditor-cash-cowsfailures-like-carillion-230138062.html