Playing a significant role in the early growth and continued expansion of merit shop construction is the Associated Builders and Contractors association. By 1987, it had a membership of nearly 20,000 contractors and a network of 75 chapters through the nation. Among the merit shop contractors are large construction firms such as Fluor Daniel, Blount International, and Brown & Root Construction. The advantages of merit shops as claimed by its advocates are:
• the ability to manage their own work force
• flexibility in making timely management decisions
• the emphasis on making maximum usage of local labor force
• the emphasis on encouraging individual work advancement through continued development of skills
• the shared interest that management and workers have in seeing an individual firm prosper.