And that is the heart of the matter. On TKDspace, I have a blog about the idea of the McDojo (two or three actually) and anyone is more than free to view it; the link to my TKDspace profile is in my signature, and there, I'm still the Celtic Tiger.
To sum it up, the thing that makes McDonalds so commercially successful is that each franchisee follows the exact same business model to a tee. Nothing is changed from restaurant to restaurant. A Big Mac tastes the same in Gaithersburg as it does in Tysons Corner VA as it does in Saint Louis Missouri as it does in Dublin Ireland.
And while McDonald's foot isn't all that great, the same model has been used in better restaurants and works well. Ruby Tuesdays, TGI Fridays, Applebees, the now sadly defunct Bennigans, and Chilles all use essentially the same business model as one another: American Burger joints where a meal at one place roughly equates a meal at any of the others, memorabilia all over the walls, and a sports bar. Nobody would argue that the food at these places is of a much higher caliber than McDonalds. But they all use the exact same burger joint business model (same as eachother, not same as McDonalds for those unfamiliar with the plaves I mentioned).
By the same token, a McDojo is a business model; nothing more and nothing less. And like any business model, if it is staffed with lousy personnel, then it will be a lousy school. If it is staffed with qualified personnel who care about what they're doing, then it will be a good school.
Personally, I see the McDojo model as actually being a good thing if the school has decent instruction: since the McDojo model is profitable, it keeps a good school open. Now, this is assuming that they don't take the business end way over the top and charge stupid fees (such as one school I'd read about that charged 4500 dollars to get to green belt).
Daniel