Innovative firms decentralize decision-making power to foster organizationallearning at the lower levels of the chain of command. However, abilities to capitalize onorganizational learning may be impeded by a concomitant process of organizationalforgetting. Empirical evidence concerning this process was gathered at the subsidiaries inSpain and Sweden of two large automobile manufacturing corporations. This evidenceshows the antecedents of organizational forgetting and how the process of forgetfulness occursafter a long Period of learning and success. It is argued that organizational structure andnational culture playa significant role in the relative success or failure of innovative projectsaiming at implementing organizational learning at the operational level.