This dissertation examines the social origins, values orientations, moral beliefs, and behavioural strategies of a small sample of successful post-Soviet „de novo‟ firm founders, and argues that entrepreneurial individuals such as those who are the subjects of research, have effected a transformation of the informal institutional framework of Ukraine‟s nascent market sphere. In contrast to the prevailing approach of the literature on post-Soviet transitions, instead of focusing exclusively on the effects of elite-led formal institutional change and reform policy implementation (or its lack), this dissertation presents an alternative „bottom-up‟ perspective on Ukraine's development during the past decade.