Perhaps to take a different line then: If Williams were still around today...
Williams would be exactly like Stern. Stern is a mature business. They are in the business of making money - so to were Williams. With a smaller market in the mid 2000, Williams would have done what Stern did - cut back on the playfield. With an growth market that is here now, including a new home market, Williams would gear up again - as Stern has.
...Have no doubt about it - if Williams continued they would be exactly like Stern. They would both be mature experienced businesses, likely with the same mature approaches. Williams would have cut back their playfields - after all, they took it one step further and shut down the business in 1999.
Design creativity cannot override management direction. When all your focus is on creativity, and the business side is ignored such as JJPs crazy line "we are not designing with a calculator"... well you saw what happened there - the calculator eventually came out. JJP eventually said that the 'no calculator' approach was wrong, and that one needs to know when to 'stop' the designers who have a creative tendency to never finish.
