Unfortunately, before the agreement could be completed, there was a reorganization and the project was put on hold indefinitely. This is typical of high tech companies and their processes, although I applaud them for trying. There are companies that do succeed by following a software maturity model. The work done in the early 1990's at IBM's software labs was noteworthy. This exercise paid for itself and then some.
Mediocre quality is tolerated because customers usually choose features over stability.
Because the SW-CMM recognizes there is a need for higher levels of software quality. The questionable software quality it produces will eventually sour future sales. If software markets mature, so must the software development process. If markets do not mature, then it is hard to justify the extra levels of the maturity model. To say you learn by your experience.