---
id: "action-implement-dvb"
type: "action-item"
source_timestamps: ["§ Don't Rely on Reactive Deal Reviews"]
tags: ["organizational-design", "cross-functional"]
related: ["concept-deal-value-board", "framework-dvb-lifecycle", "concept-internal-side-deals"]
action: "Evolve Deal Review Boards into proactive Deal Value Boards focused on cross-silo trade-offs and internal side deals."
outcome: "Overcomes lack of enterprise visibility and prevents lowest-common-denominator deals by compensating internal 'losers'."
speakers: ["Danny Ertel"]
sources: ["ecosystem"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-ecosystem"
originDay: 11
articleStem: "hbr-nm-103-big-companies-negotiate-deals"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/01/why-big-companies-struggle-to-negotiate-great-deals"
sourceTitle: "Why Big Companies Struggle to Negotiate Great Deals"
---
# Transform DRBs into DVBs

**Action:** Evolve existing **Deal Review Boards (DRBs)** into **Deal Value Boards (DVBs)** ([[concept-deal-value-board]]). Shift their mandate from reactive compliance and incremental concession approval to *proactive, cross-silo value creation*. Task the DVB with identifying cross-enterprise leverage points and facilitating [[concept-internal-side-deals]] to compensate stakeholders who might otherwise block holistic agreements.

**Expected outcome:** Overcomes the lack of enterprise visibility and prevents [[concept-lowest-common-denominator-deals|lowest-common-denominator deals]] by compensating internal 'losers'.

The board's stage-by-stage behavior is given in [[framework-dvb-lifecycle]] and its design principles in [[framework-effective-deal-review]]. Watch the scaling risk in [[question-board-bottleneck]].