Harris Interactive to shut down Asian operations

The decision was announced in a regulatory filing, which stated that Harris’s Asian operations “do not adequately support the company’s strategic objectives”.

In its most recent results, for the third quarter of fiscal 2011, Harris said bookings in Asia were down 23% and that the company was “rebuilding its sales and management” in the region – efforts which have now been curtailed.

The company said that it had “not yet been able to make a meaningful determination” of the costs associated with the closure of the three offices and figures on affected jobs were not available at the time of publication.

The Asian closure is part of a wider restructuring of the firm, including its UK business which is to be “refocused” in a move costing approximately 50 jobs.