In this research, we propose that failure in business can stimulate a process of organizational learning. We seek to model this process, through an analysis of a French department store’s failure to launch a new concept. In doing so, we are attempting to understand why an organization learns – or does not learn – after failing to succeed, even if we refuse to adopt a strict binary approach. To achieve this goal, we reference March and his co-author’s study of learning by experience and we add two factors: affective commitment and emotions.