HBS Online Response Guidelines

Successful completion of all HBS Online courses requires you to provide thorough and thoughtful responses to reflection questions that are posed throughout the course. Skipping questions, providing cursory responses, putting in filler text or symbols, or plagiarizing the work of others is regarded as incomplete participation in our courses and will render you ineligible for a Certificate of Completion. To support your success in our courses, and to ensure that you avoid making this costly mistake, and to confirm you are following the HBS Honor Code, we recommend you review Harvard's Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism and reference our plagiarism FAQ. This page also provides guidance on the difference between complete and incomplete responses.

Complete Responses

Complete responses to reflection questions should be written in full sentences whenever possible and provide an answer to the question as well as an explanation of the thought process behind the answer.

For further guidance, please view the below examples of complete responses considered from the perspective of an HBS Online employee (Questions taken from Disruptive Strategy).

Question	Answer
How does sustaining innovation apply to you? First, state which industry you work in. Then, identify 2-3 sustaining innovations developed in your company or industry. What about these innovations makes them sustaining?	I work in online education. Examples of sustaining innovation at HBS Online include platform and course material updates, and the development of new courses and online teaching methods. These innovations are sustaining because they improve HBS Online's existing model.
How does high-end disruption apply to you? First, state which industry you work in. Then, identify 2-3 examples of high-end disruptive innovation in your industry. Explain why these innovations are high-end disruptions.	I work in online education. At its founding, HBS Online itself was a high-end disruptive innovation in online education because it represented a major shift from the MOOC (massive, open, online courses) model, which offers free online education but with limited learner engagement, towards a cohort model of online learning where learners have the opportunity to interact with their peers. Other high-end disruptions in online education include fully online undergraduate, master's and PhD programs that offer the interactivity of traditional higher education but with the flexibility of online learning.
In general, why do you think it's hard for so many companies to evolve and "skate" to the new growth opportunities?	It can be difficult for companies to evolve and grow if they are afraid of damaging their existing business.

Incomplete Responses

Responses are considered incomplete when a question is skipped entirely, the response is a one-word answer, consists only of filler text (periods, or other punctuation marks or symbols), or is plagiarized from the work of others.

For further guidance, please view the below examples of incomplete responses (questions taken from Disruptive Strategy). Please note that these examples are not exhaustive and HBS Online reserves the right to determine other types of responses to be incomplete.

Question	Answer
How does sustaining innovation apply to you? First, state which industry you work in. Then, identify 2-3 sustaining innovations developed in your company or industry. What about these innovations makes them sustaining?	nfdsanfljksdnglkjfds
How does high-end disruption apply to you? First, state which industry you work in. Then, identify 2-3 examples of high-end disruptive innovation in your industry. Explain why these innovations are high-end disruptions.	I don't know.
In general, why do you think it's hard for so many companies to evolve and "skate" to the new growth opportunities?	.......
Can you identify any products that are "flying under the radar" in your industry? (Hint: they may be targeting different customers, applications, and distribution channels but they have the potential to pull away your customers in the future.)	Yes.

Still can't find what you're looking for? Please refer to the HBS Online FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), or visit the HBS Online Support Portal for any questions, comments, or concerns about your Harvard Business School Online experience.

Site Map