Thanks for the feedback and discussion. I want to addresses what some of you have said.
streets76 - I like the idea of making a sort of Watchtower U, and using it as a source of income. It's not hard to imagine a talk: "We've decided to consolidate all of our Schools into one facility to encourage growth in the faith. Now brothers, these facilities and training are not free. Would it be right to expect a good theocratic education and not help defray the costs to the Organization?" I don't think this school would be centered around anything like a School of Engineering. I think it would be based on the type of "learning" they do now: missionary training, preaching, basic Bible knowledge. Maybe they could have an MBA-lite for elders. Teach management, some basic accounting, how to run a meeting, some PR, etc. It could offset some of the brain drain and general incompetence of the lower level leadership and groom promising individuals for Bethel service. The possibility for "minoring" in some technical or practical skill also seems reasonable.
I don't agree with the idea of "JW 2.0". The WT religion is not a mainstream product. The religions with high market share have fairly relaxed membership requirements and focus primarily on improving the quality of life for members. This market is already saturated by all the big players. The WT fills a specific niche: high-commitment, high-control, high-social cohesion. Each member gives up a lot to be a member: time, freedom, worldly relationships. In return they are part of a special "select" group that is very tight knit. The high levels of commitment demanded increases social pressure to conform and keeps everything together. It also eliminates free-loaders who would want to be part of a social group but don't put much back in. Everybody reinforces the faith of everyone else. Those who doubt and may mislead others are segregated and removed.
These qualities make the WT religion successful in its market niche, but do prevent it from becoming mainstream. If you allowed birthdays, holidays and higher education it would destroy all the ways the WT has differentiated its product. It becomes just like any other mainstream religion. But the WT can't compete with mainstream faiths. These have better architecture, better (much better) music, long heritages that tie them to Western culture, and most people already have some family history with these religions. The WT product only appeals to a certain number of people, and that's fine for them. Also, they can't get rid of shunning. It's an integral part of maintaining high-social cohesion. If you allow the us/them line to blur too much, then the "specialness" of the group is diluted and people won't put as much effort into it. Going mainstream will destroy the WT if they do it. (Which means I hope they do, but don't think they will.) Additionally, while the WT is not a stranger to contradicting their past pronouncements, it would be a major reversal if they started embracing all the things and practices that they had previously denounced.
Mad Sweeney - The interplay between corporate and the GB is very interesting, I wish we knew more about it. It makes sense that Legal is very important, as the WT knows it can't survive if it manages to piss off the wrong lawyers. However, doctrinal decisions by the GB have the most significant impact on how the membership grows and behaves. So even if corporate makes a lot of the organizational decisions, the freedom of the GB to declare what is The Truth is probably a trump card.
Doubting bro - I also think that the LDS model is very successful for what it aims to do. It is high-control, and has unique beliefs that are not mainstream. I think the reason works so well for them is that they do not discourage success and ambition in "worldly" pursuits. It is an honorable thing to be a Mormon politician, businessperson, or even academic. The WT does not advocate, and even discourages all of these things. They also try to remain as separate from the world as possible. Everyone knows about JWs, but people do not know a lot about individual JWs (except certain pop singers and athletes). JWs are told NOT to get fame, riches, or honors from the world. This keeps them from being accepted by the rest of society. They remain an "other", which is exactly what the WT seems to want. It might help them to follow the LDS methods, but this would again entail rejecting most of their previous teachings regarding "being no part of this world."
dozy - I use the corporate language because I think it helps us to understand how the WT operates. They do not have shareholders and they are not taxed (unfortunately). But they do have a "product", a market to "sell" it to, and a group of "customers" or members to appease. For this reason, I think it is largely appropriate to talk about the WT like any other corporation.
I think the distribution of paper magazines and publications will continue - mostly in developing countries that lack the infrastructure for digital distribution. This is just another part of the developed/developing country conflict that the WT has to deal with. How much will a JW think they should pay for the digital magazines they received? Probably as much as kids think they should pay to download music, or people think they should pay to read online news, which is little or nothing.
I don't think the WT is going to disappear. However, the changes they are faced with a large and critical enough that they are not going to be able to lazily float into the future just making minor corrections. They can't just rely on the momentum of the convinced rank and file.
