Clayton Industries: Analyzing Peter Arnell's Leadership in Italy

This case study evaluates Peter Arnell's initial two months as the general manager of Clayton SpA, focusing on his leadership and strategic decisions within the Italian subsidiary of Clayton Industries. The analysis considers his interactions with key figures like Simonne Buis and Dan Briggs, and the challenges posed by the global recession. The study explores Arnell's ability to implement a turnaround strategy, manage multiple demands, and make critical decisions to achieve profitability and growth, including the implementation of the 10/10/10 plan to cut down inventories and receivables. The case also delves into why Buis selected Arnell for the role and the likely options he would choose to address the company's challenges, aiming for long-term success through restructuring and investment.

Running Head: Clay 0
HRM

Clay 1
Q1. How would you evaluate Peter Arnell’s first two months as Clayton SpA general
manager?
Ans1. Peter Arnell was currently appointed as CEO of Clayton Europe and within 2 months
of joining as President, set out impeccable changes by taking several critical decisions. He
held various meetings to implement the plan of actions, which would assist to balance the
condition. A Certain number of characteristics or strengths of Peter were recognized such as
he was a born competitor, propensity for taking bold action, military discipline. These sorts
of aspect impressed Simonne Buis, and he could not think of any other name other than
Arnell when he was facing the strategic crisis and Paolo Lazzaro was terminated (Montoya &
Kita, 2017).
 It is stated that Peter was appointed as a head of the British subsidiary i.e. Clayton
SpA, which was quickly appointed to marketing manager as he had diversified the
distribution of Clayton network from 4 to 14 throughout the United Kingdom and
Ireland.
 The eagerness of taking bold action and military discipline made him change Italy and
turnaround the situation.
 It was a career advancing growth for him to turn a larger operation and within weeks,
he was appointed as a head of the Clayton SpA. Their main mission is to achieve a
10/10/10 plan to cut both inventories and receivables.
 He also fulfils FLLM representatives to identify how much money the operations
were losing.
 Their actions depict his proactive attitude and discipline with building strong
leadership abilities (Fletcher, Deen, Liovic, Schwarz & Witt, 2017).
Q2. What must Peter understand about Briggs and Buis to organize for his meetings and deal
with them?
Ans2. It is stated that Peter must understand various things to prepare for his conferences. He
needs to understand clearly the steps taken to achieve the goals of Clayton SpA. In 2001,
Buis was an instant action planner, and she has achieved success in recent years of the
decade. Briggs was a no-nonsense manager, who was previously EVP of Clayton SpA and
groomed for years as a CEO. When officially pronounced as CEO, Briggs carries out two
major opportunities for the organization. Both Buis and Briggs expect post-recession

Clay 2
profitability and growth. He must attain a 10/10/10 plan to cut down inventories and
receivables for 10 days ("Industrial Boilers Manufacturers | Clayton Industries", 2019).
Q.3Why Buis select Peter for the Job of Clayton SpA’s General Manager. What option does
Peter probably choose?
Ans3. Buis select Peter for the Job of General Manager as Peter is chosen because of his
achievements and he knew him from the past decade. It is stated that Peter always manages
goals in mind when taking proper action. He also spoke Italian due to the summer vacation he
spends with his grandparents. Buis was very impressed with the bold action taken by Peter,
which has made the organization success. He always makes tough decisions and this is the
main reason he could work with Sanchez on a second option. Briggs & Buis have to set the
Clayton SpA to a greater level in order to achieve long-term profitability and growth. This
main idea would call for restructuring and layoff cost in which investment would be $15
million, which is to be spread over 5 years. This is the reason Clayton SpA is achieving long-
term growth and achievement (Nunamaker, Twyman, Giboney & Briggs, 2017).

Clay 3
References
Fletcher, D. F., Deen, N. G., Liovic, P., Schwarz, M. P., & Witt, P. J. (2017). Preface to
special issue of selected papers from the Eleventh International Conference on CFD in
the Minerals and Process Industries (CFD2015). Chemical Engineering Science, 169,
187-187
Industrial Boilers Manufacturers | Clayton Industries. (2019). Retrieved from
http://www.claytonindustries.com/
Montoya, J. S., & Kita, T. (2017). Towards an improved theory of disruptive innovation:
Evidence from the personal and mobile computing industries. In The Asian
Conference on the Social Sciences 2017: Official Conference Proceedings, 43(4),
125-144
Nunamaker, J. F., Twyman, N. W., Giboney, J. S., & Briggs, R. O. (2017). Creating High-
Value Real-World Impact through Systematic Programs of Research. MIS
Quarterly, 41(2), 34-56