SECTORAL SPECIFICS OF THE FUNCTIONING OF IT ENTERPRISES IN UKRAINE AS A DETERMINANT FOR THE FORMATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CRITERIA

Abstract

The article substantiates that the industry-specific characteristics of IT enterprises constitute the primary determinant shaping the composition and structure of their sustainable development criteria, rather than the reverse. The study proves the fundamental difference between IT enterprises and manufacturing companies across five key dimensions: the dominance of human capital in cost and asset structure; the intangible nature of output and the «invisible balance sheet»; global export orientation; a specific digital environmental footprint; and the unique institutional environment of Diia.City under wartime conditions. It is demonstrated that each of these characteristics renders standard sustainability assessment methodologies inadequate and requires sector-specific criteria. A system of priority sustainable development assessment criteria for IT enterprises is proposed, derived from the bottom up – from the industry’s business logic to indicators – rather than from international standards downward to the sector. The research covers data from IT Research Ukraine 2025 (Lviv IT Cluster) and statistical data on Diia.City residents for 2023–2025, showing that 75% of IT companies have mobilised employees, 27% opened new offices abroad in 2025, and median specialist income reached USD 2,700. These conditions generate sustainability assessment criteria absent from any existing international framework, including wartime human capital management, operational continuity under power outages, and resilience to contract termination by foreign clients. The scientific novelty consists in the first application of an «industry-first» approach to designing a sustainable development assessment system for Ukrainian IT enterprises, integrating the wartime context and the Diia.City institutional framework. The practical significance of the proposed criteria system lies in its direct applicability as an analytical instrument for intra-industry comparison and as a methodological basis for the development of an integral sustainable development index tailored to the Ukrainian IT sector.