Fortunately around here most of us operate with a good business ethic, there are a couple (Tosh and Squeaky in particular) who I trust enough to caretake my round (the shops at least) and I know they are not going to leap in and try to take the work from under my nose, likewise there is another guy who gets me to look after some of his work when he goes away.
There are also a couple with the ethics of a shark, they have earned the distrust of most who come across them, they'll undercut you and take work off you in whatever way they can...
Are they big, successful entrepenaurs? Are they hell! The one in particular I dislike with a vengence, the other is a ...well, on here I'm polite so I won't say!
Neither earn as much as I do and the one has been going as long as I have.
I get on well with my competitors and I'll compete as hard as I can for the same work too.
If I scratch their backs, they will return the favour, but if one of them dived in and took one of my good accounts off me purely on the basis that their mate was the manager of the shop...well what do you think would happen?
All trust gone, all friendship gone and I'd be poised to dump on them at the very first opportunity, just as they would on me if the postions were reversed.
I've no doubt the likes of Alan Sugar are utterly ruthless in business, but they operate in a very different league to us, people are just pawns to them.
Small people like us need to operate in a different way, far better to earn the trust and respect of customers AND competitors..it's a reputation that gets you far more work at a better price than the stab-in-the-back-get-the-work-at-any-cost brigade....