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MSMES AS A KEY DRIVER OF UKRAINE’S RECOVERY: EVALUATING SUPPORT PROGRAMS, COMPARING INTERNATIONAL PRACTICE, AND CREATING A BANK-HUB STRATEGY
(Manuscript, 2026) Zhulanova, Yuliia
This capstone is a consulting engagement that addresses three applied questions: (1) what the available market and program evidence suggests about the effectiveness of Ukraine’s MSME support instruments in 2022–2024; (2) how these instruments compare with historical and institutional lessons from South Korea, Israel, Japan, and the Marshall Plan countries; and (3) how a bank-based delivery approach can be structured to scale support under high risk and uncertainty.
The analysis relies on practical evidence from operational statistics, program and administrative reporting, and donor/IFI documentation. Because inputs are fragmented across sources, results are synthesized through a unified KPI logic—drawing on OECD and World Bank evaluation approaches adapted to wartime conditions—and presented in comparative tables and appendixes. Oschadbank is used as a case study with a significant market role to validate and illustrate program findings at the bank level. The work also uses historical context to refine instrument design choices and to translate international experience into feasible steps for Ukraine.
Results show that Ukraine deployed a broad toolkit dominated by subsidized lending and guarantees: over 100,000 loans were issued under “Affordable Loans 5-7-9%” (several hundred billion hryvnias), and over 30,000 loans were covered by state portfolio guarantees. Donor and hybrid facilities increase leverage and program quality (approximately 2–4×). The Oschadbank case indicates strong scaling capacity: its MSME loan portfolio increased more than threefold in 2022–2025, with around UAH 65 billion disbursed, supporting the feasibility of consolidating delivery through a Bank-Hub approach. Scenario simulations suggest that an MSME-focused Bank-Hub envelope of EUR 300 million+ could support several thousand additional investment projects and mobilize over EUR 1 billion when combined with IFI risk-sharing. The capstone concludes with an action-oriented plan to priorities instruments, rebalance support toward risk-sharing and blended finance, strengthen unified data and monitoring, and add a venture/equity pillar for innovative and high-growth firms.
DEVELOPMENT OF PRINCIPLES OF AN INNOVATIVE MODEL OF GROUP BUYING PLATFORM FOR ESTABLISHED COMMUNITIES: THE UKRAINIAN CONTEXT
(Manuscript, 2026) Natalukha, Vitalii
This research develops principles for an innovative Group Buying Platform (GBP) model tailored to the specific socio-economic context of Ukraine as a “frontier” economy and characterized by high inflation, institutional instability, and a social structure having low generalized trust. The study investigates how digital platforms can leverage pre-existing social ties within established communities, such as neighborhood associations and professional collectives, to facilitate collective bargaining power and overcome the interaction frictions.
A qualitative survey was conducted with 37 residents of multi-apartment buildings in Kyiv to test hypotheses regarding consumer interest, trust dynamics, and willingness to pay for platform services. The results reveal that while economic savings are the primary motivator, the main barrier to participation is the risk of disorganization and financial loss. Data analysis confirms that a significant majority of users are willing to collaborate with strangers if the platform provides a guaranteed “Safe Wallet” escrow mechanism, effectively substituting institutional trust for interpersonal trust.
The study concludes that sustainable investment model prioritizing resilience and sustainable growth is essential for the Ukrainian market. The proposed business model utilizes a bottom up, consumer-initiated approach that empowers existing communities to organize, thereby creating tangible economic value for households and acting as a substitute institution that fosters a culture of broader economic cooperation.
GROWTH STRATEGIES IN SUBSCRIPTION-BASED B2C STARTUPS: EVIDENCE FROM UKRAINIAN TECH ECOSYSTEM
(Manuscript, 2026-01) Honyk, Bohdan
This capstone project investigates how Ukrainian subscription-based B2C digital startups perceive and implement their growth strategies while operating within venture-builder ecosystems.
The research addresses the central question of how Ukrainian subscription-based B2C startups grow within venture-builder structures, utilize shared capabilities, and how this context influences their acquisition, activation, retention, and monetization strategies. To answer this, the study also examines questions related to experimentation velocity, funnel standardization, and the trade-offs between autonomy and centralized support.
The data were collected through seven semi-structured in-depth interviews with founders and C-level managers responsible for growth in venture-builder portfolio companies. Using a qualitative multiple-case design, all interviews were analyzed thematically across five constructs: acquisition, activation, retention, monetization, and venture builder ecosystem support.
The findings reveal strong convergence around ecosystem-wide growth playbooks, including quiz-first onboarding, email-driven retention, and performance-based acquisition. At the same time, substantial divergence arises from differences in team autonomy, resource-sharing arrangements, product maturity, and product launch strategies.
The study concludes that venture-builder ecosystems function simultaneously as accelerators and constraints: they reduce operational friction, diffuse best practices, and impose structural boundaries that shape strategic behavior. These insights have practical implications for founders and venture builders seeking to balance standardization with flexibility.
MANAGING THE WORK DYNAMICS OF LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL STAFF WITHIN REPRESENTATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN UKRAINE
(Manuscript, 2026) Yermak, Yakym
This research investigates the status of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices in international organizations in Ukraine. The focus of this research is HRM differences toward expatriates and host country nationals (HCNs), and the impact of cultural trainings/onboarding on the collaboration of both groups.
The study is built on Elton Mayo's Human Relations theory, and Configurational theory by John E. Delery and D. Harold Doty. These theories proclaim that strong interpersonal connections and synchronized HRM practices toward the staff lead to a high level of effectiveness for the whole organization.
The data for this research was gathered through the open survey, where 46 expatriates and HCNs left their feedback on the status of HRM practices in their organizations. Participants presented organizations working in various fields: defense sector, culture, education, embassies, and others.
The key findings of the research indicate differing perceptions of HRM practices and their impacts between HCNs and expatriates. HCNs report that HR differences influence negatively their perception of equality in the organization and basic work processes. More than half of the expatriates
don't see these correlations. From the training side, it was identified, that cultural onboarding is a necessary step for strengthening working practices between HCNs and expatriates. These results contribute to the existing HR academic literature and deepen knowledge in the field of local and international staff cooperation in international organizations.
TEAM RESILIENCE DEVELOPMENT IN BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS: WARTIME OPERATIONS EXPERIENCE
(Manuscript, 2026) Korol, Andrii
This research studies team resilience as a core component of organizational resilience in the context of extreme and prolonged crisis. Organizational resilience is understood as a dynamic capability that give ablity for organizations to anticipate, overcome, adapt to, and transform internal processes in order to sustain survival, consistency and growth under conditions of uncertainty, volatility, and disruption. While existing literature identifies multiple interrelated components of organizational resilience such as leadership, strategy, operations, finance, culture, learning, and networks, this study focuses specifically on team resilience as a critical, underestimated launching mechanism.
The objective of the research is to analyse how managerial decisions and leadership practices influenced the development of team resilience in Ukrainian organizations during the full-scale war in Ukraine. The study explores how teams were stabilized, coordinated, motivated, and adapted under conditions of high uncertainty, time pressure, and emotional deformation, and how these processes contributed to develop organizational resilience.
The findings disclosed team resilience during crisis emerges not as a single practice, but as a configuration of interdependent managerial mechanisms. Leadership presence and sensemaking, rapid and reversible decision-making, intensified, transparent and fair communication, redistribution of responsibility, and meaning-based motivation were identified as primary resilience enablers during the initial shock phase.
At the same time, the study highlights several crucial structural blind spots, including over-reliance on leadership centrality, delayed formalization of learning, communication saturation, unarticulated emotional labour, and uneven distribution of resilience capacity across organizational levels.
Based on these insights, the research proposes a multi-stage framework for strengthening team resilience as an integral part of organizational resilience. The framework combines immediate crisis-response practices with longer-term institutionalization mechanisms and provides actionable recommendations for organizations operating not only in wartime or crisis contexts, but also in environments characterized by continuous instability.