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Department
Département
Entrepreneurship, Strategy & Innovation
Teaching areas
Domaine d’enseignement
Entrepreneurship
Management
Firm Growth
Research areas
Domaine de recherche
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Organization Studies
Business Strategy and International Management
Skills
Entrepreneurship
Management
Strategy
PME
Gender
Ethnicity
Social class
Family owned company
Biography
Biographie
Professor Natalia Vershinina has joined Audencia Business School on 1st of September 2019. She previously worked ay Birmingham Business School, University fo Birmingham and prior to this at Leciester Business School, De Montfort University in the UK.
She holds a PhD in Business Relationships, MBA from De Montfort University, and DEng in Foreign Economic Relations from St. Petersburg State University of Technology and Design. She co-authored a "Management" textbook with Richard Daft and Martyn Kendrick.
Her research cuts across diverse but complementary areas of entrepreneurship, gender, ethnicity, social class and family business. She is an Associate Editor for International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, and a Co-chair for Family and Community Business Track at Institute of Small Business and Enterprise Conference. She has recently been re-elected as a Council Member for British Academy of Management. Her research work won multiple awards. Her main teaching responsibilities are in entrepreneurship and small firms.
Diplomas
Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches, Business administration, Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation
IAE Paris - Sorbonne, Paris
(2025)
PhD in Business Relationships
de Montfort University, Leicester
(2006)
Master of Business Administration with Distinction
de Montfort University, Leicester
(1999)
Diploma of Engineering in Organisation and Management with Distinction
St Petersburg State University of Technology and Design, St Petersburg
(1997)
Experiences
Deputy Director for Research
Audencia Business School, Nantes
Since 2024
Head of Research - Entrepreneurship, Strategy & Innovation Department
Audencia Business School, Nantes
2022 - 2024
Head of Major in Entrepreneurship, Business & Society Department
Audencia Business School, Nantes
2020 - 2021
Responsable Recherche - Département Entreprise & Société
Audencia Business School, Nantes
2020 - 2021
Senior Lecturer / Acting Head of Entrepreneurship
Birmingham Business School - University of Birmingham, Birmingham
2015 - 2019
Lecturer / Senior Lecturer / Principal Lecturer
de Montfort University, Leicester
2003 - 2015
Research Fellow
de Montfort University, Leicester
2001 - 2003
Publications
Published
HUSSAIN S., VERSHININA N., CAREY C., (2025). Defying the Odds? Multiple disadvantage as a Source of Entrepreneurial Action.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, 31 (1), 219-245
VERSHININA N., REDIEN-COLLOT R., LE LOARNE LEMAIRE S., HAYA AL-DAJANI H., VILLARES-VARELA M., LASSALLE P., (2025). Inequalities in Entrepreneurship Opportunities: the intersectionality of contexts, situatedness, positionalities and identities.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, 31 (1), 1-11
BUCKLEY D., VERSHININA N., RODGERS P., (2025). Exploring informal work: gaining legitimation through nudging.
Work, Employment and Society, 39 (2), 267–289
BASTIAN B., WOOD B., VERSHININA N., (2025). Sabuwona.
Gender, Work and Organization, 32 (4), 1567–1568
BASTIAN B., VERSHININA N., WOOD B., HAYA AL-DAJANI H., LEE COOK F., ESNARD T., MIGUEL IMAS M., KELAN E., GARAVAN T., GIAZITZOGLU A., HUGHES C., MACKENZIE C., OZBILGIN M., OZKAZANC-PAN B., PENG Y., PRASAD A., VAN DER MEULEN RODGERS Y., SABELIS I., SWAN E., TAYLOR S., (2025). GWO in Interesting Times: Joint Editorial.
Gender, Work and Organization, 32, 1686–1701
DAGOUDO B., VERSHININA N., MURITHI W., (2024). Women, Polygamy and Family Entrepreneuring in Southwest Benin: The role of Endogenous Knowledge.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, 30 (9), 2304 - 2331
SHYMKO Y., VERSHININA N., DASKALAKI M., AZEVEDO G., QUENTAL C., (2024). From the cocoon to la chape de plomb: The birth and persistence of silence around sexism in academia.
Gender, Work and Organization, 31 (5), 2113-2137
KANJI S., VERSHININA N., (2024). Gendered transitions to self-employment and business ownership: A linked-lives perspective.
Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 36 (7-8), 922-939
WOOD B., VERSHININA N., BASTIAN B., (2024). Moving Forward with GWO.
Gender, Work and Organization, 31 (6), 2305-2308
SCHIAVONE F., VERSHININA N., (2024). Examining the Entrepreneurial Revolution in Healthcare.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, 30 (8), 1969-1976
EVANSLUONG Q., RAMIREZ-PASILLAS M., DISCUA CRUZ A., ELO M., VERSHININA N., (2023). Migrant Entrepreneurship and the Roles of Family Beyond Place and Space: Towards a Family Resourcefulness Across Borders Perspective.
Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 17 (1), 1-15
GOUEDARD M., RADU-LEFEBVRE M., VERSHININA N., (2023). Innovative postures in a family business: Family priorities driving resource (re)configuration.
Revue de l'Entrepreneuriat, 22 (Special Issue 1), 103-132
VERSHININA N., RODGERS P., (2023). Self-regulation, micro-foundations and migrant entrepreneurs’ capacities for resilience.
Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 35 (7-8), 644-665
SUDDABY R., NG W., VERSHININA N., MARKMAN G., CADBURY M., (2023). Sacralisation and the Intergenerational Transmission of Values in Cadbury.
Family Business Review, 36 (3), 296-314
VERSHININA N., MARKMAN G., HAN L., RODGERS P., KITCHING J., HASHIMZADE N., BARRETT R., (2022). Gendered Regulations and SMEs’ Performance in Transition Economies.
Small Business Economics, 58 (2022), 1113-1130
HALL K., PHILLIMORE J., KAZLOWSKA A., VERSHININA N., OGTEM-YOUNG O., HARRIS C., (2022). Migration Uncertainty in the Context of Brexit: Resource Conservation Tactics.
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 48 (1), 173-191
RODGERS P., VERSHININA N., KHAN Z., STOKES P., (2022). Small Firms’ Non-Market Strategies in Response to Dysfunctional Institutional Settings of Emerging Markets.
International Business Review, 31 (4), Article N°101891
VERSHININA N., PHILLIPS N., MCADAM M., (2022). Online Communities and Entrepreneuring Mothers: Practices of Building, Being and Belonging.
Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 34 (7-8), 742-764
SHAHID M., RODGERS P., VERSHININA N., ZAHRA M., WILLIAMS C., (2022). Advancing the institutional perspective on informal entrepreneurship: a study of formalisation intentions amongst street entrepreneurs.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, 28 (8), 2103-2131
EL-FAR M., SABELLA A., VERSHININA N., (2021). "Stuck in the middle of what?”: The pursuit of academic careers by mothers and non-mothers in Higher Education Institutions in Occupied Palestine".
Higher Education, 81 (2021), 685-705
VERSHININA N., DISCUA CRUZ A., (2021). Researching migrant entrepreneurship communities: a reflection through collaborative (auto)ethnographies.
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 17 (2021), 507–526
ABDELLATIF A., ALDOSSARI M., BONCORI I., CALLAHAN J., CHATRAKUL NA AYUDHYA U., CHAUDHRY S., KIVINEN N., LIU S.-J. S., UTOFT E. H., VERSHININA N., YARROW E., PULLEN A., (2021). Breaking the Mould: Working through our Differences to Vocalize the Sound of Change.
Gender, Work and Organization, 28 (5), 1956-1979
MURITHI W., VERSHININA N., RODGERS P., (2020). Where less is more: institutional voids and business families in Sub-Saharan Africa.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, 26 (1), 158-174
VERSHININA N., RODGERS P., TARBA S., KHAN Z., STOKES P., (2020). Gaining legitimacy through proactive stakeholder management: The experiences of high-tech women entrepreneurs in Russia.
Journal of Business Research, 119 (October 2020), 111-121
VERSHININA N., RODGERS P., (2020). Symbolic capital within the lived experiences of Eastern European migrants: A gendered perspective.
Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 32 (7-8), 590-605
VERSHININA N., RODGERS P., (2019). Migration, enterprise and society.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, 25 (5), 774-779
AFREH B., RODGERS P., VERSHININA N., WILLIAMS C., (2019). Varieties of context and informal entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial activities of migrant youths in rural Ghana.
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, 25 (5), 996-1013
VERSHININA N., RODGERS P., MCADAM M., CLINTON E., (2019). Transnational migrant entrepreneurship, gender and family business.
Global Networks - A Journal of Transnational Affairs, 19 (2), 238-260
RODGERS P., VERSHININA N., WILLIAMS C., THEODORAKOPOULOS N., (2019). Leveraging symbolic capital: the use of blatnetworks across transnational spaces.
Global Networks - A Journal of Transnational Affairs, 19 (1), 119–136
VERSHININA N., WOLDESENBET BETA K., MURITHI W., (2018). How does national culture enable or constrain entrepreneurship? Exploring the role of Harambee in Kenya.
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 25 (4), 687-704
VERSHININA N., RODGERS P., RAM M., THEODORAKOPOULOS N., RODIONOVA Y., (2018). False self-employment: The case of Ukrainian migrants in London’s construction sector.
Industrial Relations Journal, 49 (1), 2-18
JONES S., MARTINEZ DY A., VERSHININA N., (2018). “We were fighting for our place”: Resisting gender knowledge regimes through feminist knowledge network formation.
Gender, Work and Organization, 26 (6), 789-804
BARRETT R., VERSHININA N., (2017). Intersectionality of Ethnic and Entrepreneurial Identities: A Study of Post‐War Polish Entrepreneurs in an English City.
Journal of Small Business Management, 55 (3), 430-443
VERSHININA N., BARRETT R., MCHARDY P., (2017). Logics and rationalisations underpinning entrepreneurial decision-making.
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 24 (1), 158-175
MCHARDY P., VERSHININA N., (2014). The role of autocatalysis in learner's networks.
International Journal of Management Education (IJME), 12 (3), 271-282
VERSHININA N., RODIONOVA Y., (2011). Methodological issues in studying hidden populations operating in informal economy.
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 31 (11/12), 697-716
VERSHININA N., BARRETT R., MEYER M., (2011). Forms of capital, intra-ethnic variation and Polish entrepreneurs in Leicester.
Work, Employment and Society, 21 (1), 101-117
Forthcoming
AUDRETSCH D. B., BELITSKI M., GUENTHER C., VERSHININA N., (2025). Innovation in Family Firms: The Role of Absorptive Capacity and Knowledge Collaboration.
Journal of Product Innovation Management
HARTWELL C., KOROVKIN V., VERSHININA N., (2025). Training the Elephant to Dance: State-Owned Enterprises, Transition, and the Reinterpretation of Legacy.
Academy of Management Perspectives
VERSHININA N., (2025). Reflecting on Deborah Simonton’s "Gender in the European Town: Ancien Régime to the Modern".
Gender, Work and Organization
GIAZITZOGLU A., SMITH R., VERSHININA N., RADU-LEFEBVRE M., (2025). In Search of Entrepreneurial Masculinities: Exploring Accomplishments, Social Constructions, Ideals, and Hegemonies.
International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship
NICHOLA PHILLIPS N., VERSHININA N., DUBERLEY J., CARRIGAN M., (2025). Entrepreneuring mothers’ identity work and motivation from the perspective of possible selves.
Entrepreneurship and Regional Development
VERSHININA N., RODGERS P., XHENETI M., BRZOZOWSKI J., LASSALLE P., (2021). Global Migration, Entrepreneurship and Society.
Emerald Group Publishing
DAFT R., KENDRICK M., VERSHININA N., (2010). Management.
Cengage Learning Business Press
VERSHININA, N. (2025). How Inclusive Are Entrepreneurial Ecosystems of Marginalized Business (1 ed.). In Light, I., Dana, L. & Chabaud, D. ( Eds.) (Eds.), Immigrant and Refugee Entrepreneurs: History, Cases, and Frontiers (pp. 221). Springer Nature.
HEILBRUNN, S., VERSHININA, N., RODGERS, P. (2023). Employment, self-employment and precarity: routes to migrant integration?. Immigration and Integration in Israel and Beyond (pp. 79-104). Bielefeld: Verlag.
VERSHININA, N., RODGERS, P., XHENETI, M., BRZOZOWSKI, J., LASSALLE, P. (2021). Chapter 1: Global Migration, Entrepreneurship and Society: Setting the New Research Agenda. Global Migration, Entrepreneurship and Society (pp. 1-10). Emerald Group Publishing.
BORKOWSKI, M., BRZOZOWSKI, J., VERSHININA, N., RODGERS, P. (2021). Chapter 10: Networks and Migrant Entrepreneurship: Ukrainian Entrepreneurs in Poland. Global Migration, Entrepreneurship and Society (pp. 140-161). Emerald Group Publishing.
VERSHININA, N., RODIONOVA, Y., MARLOW, S. (2015). Does an Entrepreneur’s Gender Matter for Credibility and Financing of SMEs? (1st Edition ed.). In Veland Ramadani, Shqipe Gërguri-Rashiti and Alain Fayolle (Eds.), Female Entrepreneurship in Transition Economies (pp. 87-111). Routledge.
BUCCELLATO, T. B., FAZIO, G., RODIONOVA, Y., VERSHININA, N. (2015). Ownership Structure, Cash Constraints and Investment Behaviour in Russian Family Firms (1st Edition ed.). In Léo-Paul D ana Veland Ramadani (Ed.), Family Businesses in Transition Economies: Management, Succession and Internationalization (pp. 239-264). Springer.
CHAMPENOIS C., SHYMKO Y., VERSHININA N., (2024). Self-care as the pursuit of eusociality: A Foucauldian perspective of self-care at work in the times of crisis.
VERSHININA N., DISCUA CRUZ A., (2024). Under what conditions do sustainability and responsibility become central to family businesses dominant logics?.
VERSHININA N., BELITSKI M., MOOG P., (2024). Developing an enduring regional legacy: the role of location, history, and industry in shaping firm competitiveness.
SMYTH I., VERSHININA N., (2024). Reimagining Family Firm Narratives: The Role of Iconology in Unveiling Layers of History through Visual Imagery and Artefacts.
VERSHININA N., (2024). Female Immigrant Integration in Europe: What Specific Policies Have International Institutions Recommended for Reducing Gender Gaps in the Labour Market?.
VERSHININA N., SERBICHENKO D., SHYMKO Y., (2024). Volunteering as Political Activism in Extreme Socio-political Contexts: A Case of Ukrainian Volunteers in Nantes.
VERSHININA N., PHILLIPS N., KERRIGAN F., ROMANO S., (2024). Ode to Joy and Meaning of Craft Work: Narratives accounts of women craft makers in Birmingham.
VERSHININA N., RAUCH A., SERBICHENKO D., BELITSKI M., BRZOZOWSKI J., RODGERS P., (2024). What are the effects of a war zone environment on entrepreneurial behavior: lessons from Russian-Ukrainian Conflict.
VERSHININA N., (2024). How inclusive are entrepreneurial ecosystems of marginalised business owners?.
VERSHININA N., PHILLIPS N., KERRIGAN F., ROMANO S., (2023). Ode to Joy and its Meaning in Craft Entrepreneurial Identity.
VERSHININA N., BELITSKI M., JACK S., MONSEN E., (2023). Democratisation of family firm business models in post-covid and post-capitalism society.
LEFEBVRE V., VERSHININA N., (2023). Scaling up for good: the role of actors at the centerof the organizational scaling-up process.
LEFEBVRE V., VERSHININA N., JACK S., (2023). The micro-foundations of new venture growth at the early development stage: A phenomenological perspective on growing.
RADU-LEFEBVRE M., VERSHININA N., LEFEBVRE V., (2022). Living up to self-imposed standards: enacting moral leadership and innovation as gendered practice in family business.
VERSHININA N., RADU-LEFEBVRE M., (2021). Deconstructing women's (in)visibility discourse in family business research.
LEFEBVRE V., VERSHININA N., (2021). The role of learning in organizing and growing processes at a new venture stage.
MURITHI W., VERSHININA N., (2019). Exploring Strategic Behaviours of Family Businesses in Sub-Saharan African Context: Does Family Involvement and Size of the Firm Matter?.
Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship
VERSHININA N., (2019). “From darkness into light”: a systematic review of scholarly contributions investigating (in)visibility of women in family firms..
Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, 35
HASHIMZADE N., VERSHININA N., (2017). Symptoms and Causes: Gender Effects and Institutional Failures.
Broadcast
SUDDABY R., NG W., VERSHININA N., MARKMAN G., CADBURY M., (2024). When the Family Leaves the Business, Can Their Values Remain?.
Familybusiness.org
LEFEBVRE V., RADU-LEFEBVRE M., VERSHININA N., DIMOV D., (2023). STEP conversation #3 : Growth and Family Business Succession.
Chaine Youtube Audencia
Professional conference
VERSHININA N., RODGERS P., (2019). Gendering of symbolic capital and lived experiences of Eastern European migrant entrepreneurs in the UK.
Scientific activities
Guest Editor of an academic journal
GWO: Sexism and Gender-Washing in Academia and Beyond
2024
ERD - Entrepreneuring and poverty at the margins: here, there and everywhere
2024
IJGE In search of Entrepreneurial Masculinities
2023
IJEBR -Entrepreneurial Revolution in Healthcare
2022
IJEBR - Inequalities in Entrepreneurship Opportunities: the intersectionality of contexts, situatedness, positionalities and identities
2022
Guest Editor for Special Issue: Migration, Enterprise and Society
2017
Editor of an academic journal
Co-Editor in Chief - Gender Work & Organization
2024
Member of the board of directors of an academic association
ECSB Board Member
2024
ISBE - Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship
2021
British Academy of Management
Associate Editor of an academic journal
Journal of Business Research
2023
Entrepreneurship & Regional Development Journal
2021
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research
2019
Member of the editorial board of an academic journal
Academy of Management Perspectives
2022
International Journal of Entrepreneurship and innovation
2021
Journal of Management Studies
2021
Entrepreneurship and Regional Development
2020
Member of the scientific board of an academic association
IJEI - The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
2022
Reviewer for an academic journal
Gender, Work and Organization
2019
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development
2019
International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research
2019
International Small Business Journal
2019
Journal of Management Studies
2019
Journal of Family Business Management
2019
Journal of International Entrepreneurship
2019
The International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
2019
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
2019
Organization
2019
Journal of Business Research
2019
International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship
2019
Long Range Planning
2019
International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal
2019
Applied Psychology: An International Review
2019
Journal of Small Business Management
2019
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
2019
Human Relations
2019
Small Business Economics
2019
Awards and honors
Top Peer Reviewer for Economics and Management, 2019
Best Reviewer Award 2019- IJEBR, 2019
Best Qualitative Paper Award at Diana Conference, 2019
Emerald Literati Award for Highly Commended paper, 2018
Best Knowledge and Research Exchange Paper, 2016
Best paper in “Entrepreneurship in Minority Groups” Track, 2016
Best paper in “Family and Community Business” Track, 2015
Doctoral supervision
(2018) B. WASIK : The role of Social Capital in business creation and development of Chinese ethnic entrepreneurship in Indonesia.
(2016) P. SAVONI : Intra-Family Succession Goals: Perceptions of the Dominant Coalition of Small Private Family Firms.
(2021) K. STOEWE : Refugee Entrepreneurship Intergration: Comparative study of Birmingham and Cologne.
(2018) P. MCHARDY : Identifying Boundary Spanning Behaviour across Members of Heterogeneous Groups within a Project Environment.
(2017) M. JEREMIAH : Accountability Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Sustainability in Developing Countries: Evidence from Nigeria.
(2014) H. MUMBI : Public Sector Leadership.
(2007) D. COCONETE : Technology strategy of small and medium sized semiconductor enterprises in the UK.