For those ligaments implicated in AAFD, graded stiffness values were assigned per clinician evaluation.
The three groupings consisted of those ligaments implicated in AAFD and each group was separated from one another generally by ligament location (i.e., all medial ligaments comprised one grouping).
One approach is to check the
AAFD website for associations it has added as chapters.
AAFD Chairman Robert Purvin said, "These new standards continue the AAFD's leadership in defining and promoting exemplary franchising practices.
Rosen described the effect of the new standards: "The AAFD has recognized that personal guarantees may be appropriate when a franchisor looks to the principals of the purchaser of the franchise for the ultimate performance of the franchisee's obligations, but the new standard suggests that guarantees should be negotiable.
Support for franchisees comes from an existing parent company, that is a franchiser, or it comes from either the IFA or
AAFD.
The
AAFD has invited program representatives to its annual meetings, featured program speakers at its events, published articles written by program representatives, and made recommendations of excellent mediators to join the program's publicly-listed panels of franchise neutrals.
Then
AAFD awarded Meineke with their FAIR FRANCHISING SEAL, an honor that no other company in the automotive industry has achieved.
Check the offering circular against AAFD's free pamphlet, Franchisee Bill of Rights.
Still, a franchisor almost always retains the rights to approve a site, says Robert Purvin, CEO of the San Diego-based AAFD and author of The Franchise Fraud: How to Protect Yourself Before and After You Invest (John Wiley & Sons; $27.95).
The franchise agreement doesn't measure up to the Franchisee Bill of Rights, a code of ethical business conduct developed by the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers (AAFD).
To bring fairness to franchising, the AAFD drew up a Bill of Rights that sets forth a list of "minimum requirements of a fair and equitable franchise system." For example, one provision of the "bill" is "the right to local dispute resolution and protection under the laws and the courts of the franchisee's jurisdiction." Seeking redress for grievances in the state where the franchisor is headquartered can put an out-of-state franchisee at a serious disadvantage, both in terms of cost and the franchisee's lack of familiarity with laws outside of his or her local business area.